Josh Freeman was released on Friday after just six weeks with the Giants, and his biggest problem in New York this offseason appears to be the same as his biggest problem in Minnesota last season: He struggles to learn the offense.
Shortly before Freeman was released, Jordan Raanan of NJ.com reported that Freeman had been pulled from a practice session in place of fellow backup quarterback Curtis Painter after Freeman lined up the offense incorrectly.
At the end of the 2013 season, USA Today reported that Freeman was late for numerous meetings and often among the last players to the facility. Said one unnamed Viking, “You could tell Josh did not know the offense.”
In fairness to Freeman, the Vikings threw him into the starting lineup less than two weeks after he arrived, while the Giants gave him less than two months of the offseason. He has not had much time to learn the offense in either of his last two stops. And Freeman is only 26 years old, and showed promise in Tampa Bay, topping 4,000 yards in 2012 and throwing 25 touchdowns and only six interceptions in 2010. He has the tools to be a good quarterback.
But it will take some work for Freeman to get there, and after washing out in two different stops, there is now a real question whether any team will give him another shot.