Part of what makes the preseason fun in recent years is listening to the bold statements and predictions made by players and coaches each summer. Coaches I suppose are much more guarded in what they say, but it’s much tougher to keep hundreds of jacked up young men ready to compete from opening their mouth from time to time.
Running back Derrick Ward doesn’t exactly qualify here, but he does have some bold statements comparing quarterback Josh Freeman to Eli Manning of the New York Giants, who Ward played with earlier in his career.
“The kid is light years ahead of any quarterback I’ve seen going into his second year,” said Ward. “I was telling him the other day that I got drafted with Eli and Eli going from his first year to his second year he is light years ahead of Eli. Eli has won a Super Bowl and been to the Pro Bowl. [Freeman] is doing great. I don’t want to get his head too big, but he is very grounded for a franchise quarterback.”
Read on though. Ward is not so much putting down Manning as he is pumping up Freeman. He has some interesting takes on Freeman’s maturation from year one to two though that are encouraging to read.