Ex-Colts pass-rusher Dwight Freeney put opponents in the spin cycle on his way to Canton

Anthony Castonzo knew adjusting to the speed of NFL opponents would require significant transition. But nothing could prepare the rookie offensive tackle for facing one of the best pass rushers in NFL history.

The Indianapolis Colts‘ first-round pick in 2011, Castonzo was eager to test himself against pro competition in his first training camp following a successful career at Boston College.

And that test would come against three-time first-team All-Pro Dwight Freeney.

“He crushed my confidence real early,” Castonzo said.

Particularly damaging to Castonzo’s self-assurance was Freeney’s array of pass rush techniques. There was his incomparable speed around the edge, always the first concern of opposing tackles. Also worrisome was his power, which arguably remains underrated to this day. But in the back of one’s mind, there was always the reality that Freeney might deploy his devastating spin move, leaving a blocker grasping at air and his quarterback on the ground.

Castonzo can relate. But here’s the good news: He wasn’t alone, even if he failed to realize it.

After one particularly long practice for the rookie, then-Colts coach Jim Caldwell quipped to then-team president Bill Polian, “Let’s just keep patting him on the back. He doesn’t realize he’s going against the best guy in the league.”

Now, it has been affirmed that Freeney was, in fact, one of the best ever. His upcoming enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame serves as the proof, with one of the game’s finest sack artists earning the ultimate recognition for his 125.5 career quarterback takedowns.

And so many of those sacks will be remembered for the manner in which Freeney reached the passer. His spin move, Freeney’s signature tactic, flustered many an opponent — and even teammates like Castonzo. It’s been often attempted but rarely duplicated.

That’s because few players had the exact combination of talent, timing and work ethic to perfect something so intricate. It took rep after painstaking rep to refine it, even if Freeney made it look easy.

As for the genesis of the move, it began with minimal sophistication. Freeney said he integrated the spin move while still in high school, borrowing from his basketball background while on the gridiron. He was a big fan of the And1 Mixtape Tour, a traveling basketball exhibition popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, featuring a group of streetball players known for their ankle-breaking moves and trick shots.

“I wanted to bring that to the football field,” Freeney said. “That’s where it derived from. The first time I ever used it was actually on a run play back in the ’90s. They weren’t throwing the ball [as much] back then, so I had opportunities to use it on a run play where the offensive tackle tried to come out and block you and his head would be over his shoes because he’s really trying to get into you.

“I’d just make him miss.”

In the years to come, it became a key tool for Freeney and a move that terrified his opponents. But what’s interesting is that the spin move was never a primary weapon. Instead, it was a secondary move that was set up by Freeney’s speed.

“My fastball was my speed around the corner, the outside speed rush,” Freeney said.

Turns out, that’s exactly what made the spin move so effective.

“Being around great rushers all the way through my coaching career, pretty much everybody had one move,” former Colts coach Tony Dungy said. “And then they had something to counter off of that. And that’s the only advice I gave Dwight, was to not make it too complicated. … Dwight’s number one asset, obviously, was the speed. So, he’s going to go upfield and put a lot of pressure on people with that speed and running by them. And, so, now they’re going to defend that. What is the next way? Is it a jab step? Is it a counter back inside?”

So often for Freeney, it was the spin move.

What made it work so flawlessly was Freeney’s knack for timing. He had an uncanny way of knowing the exact moment a blocker’s momentum had reached a point where Freeney could effectively counter with a spin.

“I’d be thinking, ‘OK, don’t get beat around the edge for a strip-sack,” said Castonzo, who went on to an impressive career as a 10-year starter. “So, early on when I first was blocking him, I’m like, ‘Well, Dwight Freeney is a speed guy. You’ve got to punch his shoulder.’ But as soon as you turn your hips to punch his shoulder and run him by [the quarterback], it’s like he just knew as soon as he felt that pressure on his shoulder to stick his left foot in the ground, spin and ice pick you in the back, and before you knew it, he was gone.”

An alternative, Castonzo said, was the “stay squared” in front of Freeney, but Freeney’s underappreciated bull rush often left Castonzo “getting walked right back into the quarterback.” When that failed, a third option would be to sit in a bowl-like stance to protect against Freeney’s power, Castonzo said. But that enabled Freeney to go to the spin move because Castonzo’s feet would get stuck underneath him and prevent him from responding quickly.

So it went, the seemingly fruitless and endless effort to find a way of stopping Freeney.

Interestingly, the spin move was generally frowned upon in years past, with many old-school position coaches instructing pass rushers to never turn their backs to the ball. But it worked for Freeney in high school and, later, at Syracuse, where he led the nation in sacks as a senior (17.5).

After Freeney’s arrival in Indianapolis as the 11th overall pick in 2002, the pairing of the young pass rusher with esteemed defensive line coach John Teerlinck helped advance the player’s game. It was Teerlinck who recognized what a weapon the spin move could be, prompting him to use an open-minded approach that empowered Freeney.

“He gave Dwight a lot of freedom, and it was beautiful to watch,” Dungy said of Teerlinck, who passed away in 2020 at 69. “He never tried to say, ‘Well, everybody’s got to do it the same way.’ No, what’s best for you? ‘You’ve got this low center of gravity and you’ve got great speed. Use that, and counter it with that spin and that momentum.’ And, so, Dwight got it down.”

Said Freeney: “It was discouraged, 100%. I’m grateful for the fact that I had great coaches who allowed me to be who I am. They didn’t put me in a box and say, ‘Hey, you can only do this because this is what I teach.’ So, five generations from now, I know if I see that spin move, it comes back to me. That’s a pretty cool thing.”

Together, Freeney and Teerlinck embarked on an effort to make the spin move one that relied on muscle memory. Freeney said they would conjure up extreme scenarios in practice — even potential triple-team situations — to test whether Freeney could utilize his spin under those circumstances.

“I never got comfortable,” he said. “I always wanted to get better at it.”

And he did. By Freeney’s third season, he led the NFL with 16 sacks.

It was the culmination of the Colts’ plan coming together. When Freeney was still a draft prospect in 2002, Polian and Dungy had long discussions about their team’s needs. There was some conventional wisdom that they needed an interior defensive lineman, with Georgia’s Charles Grant strongly considered for that role, Polian said. But soon enough, the team came to the conclusion that with Peyton Manning at quarterback, Marvin Harrison at receiver and Edgerrin James at running back, what the Colts needed was a defensive closer.

“We said, ‘We’re going to have a lot of points on the board and we’re going to have fourth-quarter leads that we’re going to have to protect,'” Dungy said. ” ‘We’re playing half of our games in a dome with noise on a fast track. This is what we need.’ So our goal was to build offensively to get leads, and then how are you going to close the door? We need guys who can pressure the passer.”

The Colts selected Freeney and never looked back. A year later, Indianapolis picked Robert Mathis in the fifth round and watched him grow into one-half of one of the NFL’s best-ever pass rushing tandems.

Now, Freeney — and his famous spin move — will be immortalized forever in the Hall of Fame.