The Rise and Fall of Josh Freeman.

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Seeing how we finally have a franchise quarterback in Jameis Winston, it got me thinking about another quarterback that we drafted in the first round to be our franchise QB, Josh Freeman.

Freeman was drafted 17th overall in the first round out of Kansas State. While at K-State, Josh played in 35 games, with 680 completions in 1151 attempts, a completion percentage just under 60. He also passed for 8078 yards and a 44/31 TD to INT ratio with a passer rating of 124.73. He received numerous accolades while in college including 3 National Player of The Week honors, as well as a BIG12 Co-Offensive Player of The Week and a USA Today Player of The Week award.

The Buccaneers drafted Freeman in 2009. As a rookie, Josh played in 10 total games and started 9. He had a subpar rookie campaign with 158 completions out of 290 attempts, a completion percentage of 59.4 He passed for 1855 yards and a 10/18 TD to INT ratio with a passer rating just under 70. In his second season in the league, Freeman started all 16 games, making him the first Bucs QB since Brad Johnson in 2003 to do so. He went 291 completions out of 474 attempts, a completion percentage of 61.

Josh passed for 3451 yards and a 25/6 TD to INT ratio. He was also named an alternate for the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. By all accounts, that is where his career spiked, because by the time Tampa Bay hired Greg Schiano as the new head coach, Freeman’s time in a Buccaneers uniform was coming to a sad conclusion as he was benched in favor of strong-armed rookie quarterback Mike Glennon in 2013. During that off-season, Josh was released.

Unfortunately, Freeman was never able to reinvent himself and is currently out of the league, although he is still holding out hopes of being signed by a team for this upcoming season. It has been reported that the Cowboys may very well be looking to retain his services to backup Dak in Dallas. I, for one, wish him nothing but the best.

Edited by Harmeet Kapur.

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