TUESDAY,10:51pm: Freeman gets just $55K guaranteed in the deal, tweets Jordan Raanan of NJ.com.
8:59pm: Freeman’s deal is a one-year, $750K pact, tweets Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News.
MONDAY, 9:48am: Freeman officially inked his deal today upon arriving for the start of the Giants’ offseason program, says Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News (via Twitter).
WEDNESDAY, 11:29am: Freeman’s contract with the Giants will be a one-year pact, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Twitter). Caplan adds, as a sidenote, that the Packers would have been interested in signing Freeman if the Giants had landed Flynn (Twitter link).
11:08am: Freeman has agreed to terms with the Giants, tweets Mike Garafolo of Fox Sports.
11:04am: The Giants and Josh Freeman are working toward a deal and are expected to reach an agreement within the next day or so, reports Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Freeman was one of two veteran free agent quarterbacks said to be visiting the team this week, but the second – Matt Flynn – ended up re-signing with the Packers instead, leaving Freeman as the apparent top target for New York.
Freeman, 26, was Tampa Bay’s full-time starting quarterback from 2009 to 2012, but saw the wheels come off last year and was cut by the team. In his first four seasons, the former 17th overall pick completed 58.8% of his passes and tossed 78 touchdowns to go with 63 interceptions, as well as throwing for more than 4,000 yards in 2012. In 2013 though, Freeman’s completion percentage in four starts with the Bucs was just 45.7%, a number which declined even more after he joined the Vikings and performed poorly in his lone start.
Still, Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report recently suggested (via Twitter) that general managers feel like Freeman was “thrown to [the] wolves” in Minnesota. And at age 26, with multiple strong seasons under his belt, there’s room for the former Buccaneer to turn things around.
For the Giants, Freeman figures to provide veteran insurance for Eli Manning, who recently had surgery on a troublesome left ankle. Curtis Painter and Ryan Nassib are also under contract with the club.