“He Was A Dear Friend”

June 8th, 2012
Josh Freeman weighs in on the Kellen Winslow trade

In what’s probably the last interesting word about the Kellen Winslow trade, Josh Freeman weighed in on the deal during an interview on WDAE-AM 620 this morning.

Freeman sounded a bit melancholy about the loss of his tight end.

“Kellen, while we were together, man, he was a dear friend,” Freeman said.” A guy that I learned a lot about being a pro, preparation, pushing yourself, trying to be great. I have nothing but tremendous respect for Kellen. It’s part of the business. Things don’t always work out perfect in this league. But I’m still friends with Kellen, still a great guy.”

Freeman went on to say he didn’t buy into that theory that he felt pressured by Winslow to throw to Winslow.

“It’s a deal where sometimes when things aren’t going great, you try to get the ball to your playmakers,” Freeman said. “You know, sometimes that doesn’t work out. [It was] definitely a learning experience.”

27 Responses to ““He Was A Dear Friend””

  1. Dini's Biceps Says:

    I hope Josh understands the New Offense better than he understood all the questions asked this morning b/c he didn’t answer them directly or went off in his own direction (which leads to Interceptions on the football field) which made him sound like he has comprehension problems (smh)

  2. Tiny tim Says:

    Thank You Josh for clearing that up. Like I was posting before, Kellen was not pressuring Freeman. The trade of Winslow was all about BUSINESS!!

  3. OAR Says:

    I think Freeman is just being “a dear friend” with his comments about Win-slow not pressuring him. I witnessed it during games. He was a distraction. A distraction to the business end of football, winning games.

  4. Eric Says:

    So much for the “freeman wanted him gone” argument.

  5. thomas 2.2 Says:

    Freeman the politician. What did you expect Freeman to say, Winslow if fighting for his NFL life having value equivalent to a 7th rounder and a price tag much higher.

  6. jb Says:

    These are just a few comments that are leading me to believe that we may be having to find a new quarterback next season. Freeman can’t be this dumb or impressionable, that he would try and paint Winslow as the consummate professional. For him to keep trying to tell us that Winslow was not hassling him for the ball every play is ridiculous. We ALL saw it! Freeman may have all the physical tools, but by going by some of the things he says………he’s not much of a leader, and I have a feeling he’ll be given his walking papers long before Schiano will. I hope I’m wrong, but this is NOT good!

  7. Santos Says:

    are you guys kidding me? since when have u heard ANY quarterback rip a teammate after they left? not even T.O. got blasted by the qb’s that left, be serious people.

  8. jb Says:

    @ Santos

    Who said they expect Freeman to rip a former teammate? We certainly don’t care for him trying to paint Winslow as something we ALL know he’s NOT!

  9. JonBuc Says:

    ” He was a deer knuckle “. Greg Schiano

  10. McBuc Says:

    We all saw conversations on the field and side line, none of us heard what was being said. All receivers want the ball, and they all think they are open all the time. To assume Freeman is not smart or is not a leader because of these statements is foolish. I am sure Winslow wanted the ball and pressured Free for it, because he wanted to win. From all accounts he was a good teammate in Tampa, and he was out most productive receiver while he was here. I would be more concerned if Free was unprofessional and ripped on the guy. Remember, they could be on the same team again someday.

  11. OAR Says:

    Questioning Freemans leadeship is absurd. See 2010 season and what he did in the offseason last year organizing and paying for players to come to his formed practices with no OTAs.

  12. OAR Says:

    Plenty of the Bucs players (veterans too) recognize his leadership of the team. Afterall, thats who/where it counts!

  13. TrueBlue Says:

    Sounds like it was a situation where Freeman, maybe unconsciously, wanted to play football with his friend, throwing him the ball even when it wasn’t the best option. It takes a while to learn how to be a professional. Hopefully with Winslow gone he can get back to being just that.

  14. Eric Says:

    Freeman learned how to be a pro from K-2.

    Fascinating.

  15. Miguel Grande Says:

    I think Winslow had trouble getting open and had to cheat to get open. I think we need players that practice and play hard. Players who will block for the running backs since we will be running more often this year.

    Being Freeman’s good friend can also be a problem when you can’t physically get open. A young QB will try to feed the ball to his friends and maybe force something to happen.

  16. ALSTOTTSMART! Says:

    Does anyone expect Freeman to throw darts at Winslow? Some of you think every interview with a coach or a player is the actual truth.

    The majority what is said is coach speak and fluff.

  17. jb Says:

    Eric Says:
    June 8th, 2012 at 12:11 pm

    Freeman learned how to be a pro from K-2.

    Fascinating.
    _______________

    Exactly my point! Everyone keeps pointing to the 2010 season. Well, what about the 2011 season? Is that just a throwaway because he played like crap the last 10 games? Hardly! It was obvious that Freeman kept trying to get the ball to Winslow, even after multiple interceptions. I hope I’m wrong, but at this point, going by his last 10 games and these “I want my primadonna tight end back so I can listen to him whine some more and teach me how to be a professional, is complete bullspit! Perhaps it wasn’t Raheems’ doing after all.

    You all can keep blowing smoke up each others rear ends, but I’m waiting to see what this new “Improved?” version looks like.
    Talk is cheap. If Freeman doesn’t improve massively from last season, we’re doomed to another 5 to 10 years of mediocrity. My patience with this guy is GONE! Especially when he makes comments like this about an obvious cancer on the team!

  18. OAR Says:

    Smoke or whatever, doesn’t matter, my rear end is exit only!

  19. BucFan20 Says:

    Why not start the vote now. Who’s going to put the gun to Fremans’ head this year? After all. Seems he has no brain of his own and FORCED by others to make his decisions.

  20. BucFan20 Says:

    The usual suspects think that anyway.

  21. The Dutcher Journal (Pete Dutcher) Says:

    TrueBlue Says:
    June 8th, 2012 at 12:00 pm

    Sounds like it was a situation where Freeman, maybe unconsciously, wanted to play football with his friend, throwing him the ball even when it wasn’t the best option.

    .

    Let me just address this comment on a serious note. Last year, Freeman had trouble relying on ANY member of the offense. Kellen Winslow was the most reliable of a bad batch last year.

    Think it through…Blount had fumbles. Parker had lots more fumbles. No one else was catching the ball.

    We had no run game thanks to Olson.

    Josh Freeman was a desperate man and so he took desperate-types of chances. He was trying to force plays to happen, instead of trusting the system.

    And who can blame him? The system sucked out loud. Unfortunately, Freeman only had the teachings of Olson to draw from at the time. That changes this year.

    Sullivan and company are going to have Freeman a superstar within 2-3 years, and a darn good QB in one year.

  22. The Dutcher Journal (Pete Dutcher) Says:

    Here’s another theory to put out there…maybe Winslow was sent packing because he was TOO close to Freeman. With him in there, maybe the fear was that Freeman would feel too inclined to throw the ball his was, and Sullivan wants him to spread the ball out more.

  23. jb Says:

    @ Pete Dutcher

    Pete, I sure hope you’re correct. I just hate to think we have a quarterback that can be influenced so easily by a teammate such as Winslow. Given the fact that he’s gone now, perhaps Freeman can settle in with all the talent they’ve tried to surround him with. I suppose I’m pretty hard on Freeman at the moment, but I still feel the sting of the last 10 games played and am extremely aware of the fact that if Freeman doesn’t put it back together, this team is pretty much doomed for the foreseeable future, or at least until we can find another quarterback that can win and be a true leader…..which is what I thought Freeman was until last season….and today with his comments about Winslow being a pro and thoroughly prepared, when the s.o.b. rarely, if ever practiced.

  24. Buc O Deer Says:

    Plain and simple, Free had a horrible 2011 season. You can’t blame the line for not protecting, he has to get rid of the football quick (like all the other qb’s in the league). You can’t blame the receivers not catching balls, they did catch balls against Green Bay (one of the few games Free was accurate and the offense moved the ball).

    K2 gone is going to make Free throw to the receiver who beats his man. The good qb’s (Rodgers, Brees, Brady) don’t favor one receiver, they throw to who has the better matchup and who beats their man off the snap. At the end of the game those qb’s have thrown to over seven different receivers.

  25. Bobby Says:

    When you have the most predictable offense in the history of the NFL being called of course it makes the receivers look bad. We kept NO ONE off balance and opposing coordinators knew what was coming before the snap. The play calling will be much better this year and the personnel will be much better with the addition of Smith, Martin, Nicks, and Jackson. I look for big seasons out of Williams and Benn, maybe even better than Jackson’s. Vincent is going to get all the attention and that should free up Williams and Benn to get open more often. Play action is going to be our bread and butter. If Blount is really working as hard as they say this could be a scary good offense.

  26. Bobby Says:

    Also, when you’re playing from 14-21 points down all the time it makes most young QB’s force balls into spots they shouldn’t to try and make things happen. Hard to be patient when your desperate.

  27. pewterC Says:

    I think The Dutcher Journal @ 4:56pm got it right…