Who is the Detroit Lions new linebacker Jonathan Freeny?

The Detroit Lions signed yet another linebacker for Matt Patricia’s new defensive scheme. Jonathan Freeny has played for Patricia before. He is one of the few Lions that already knows what will be expected of him in 2018.

New Detroit Lions linebacker Jonathan Freeny is a Floridian linebacker who chose to go to college at Rutgers in New Jersey. He wanted to play for their head coach at the time, Greg Schiano. It stands to reason that he has chosen the Detroit Lions as his next team in part because of coaching as well. In college Freeny split time between defensive end and linebacker. He went undrafted in 2011. He ended the season on the Miami Dolphins practice squad.

After the 2012 pre-season Freeny was initially playing on the practice squad again, but spent all 16 games on the 53 man roster, playing a special teams role. He spent the 2012-2104 seasons in that role for the Dolphins and developed a reputation for solid special teams play.

In 2015 Freeny joined the New England Patriots and recorded 11 of his 50 total tackles on special teams. He started seven games for the Patriots. He filled in for both Dont’a Hightower and Jamie Collins at various points in the season. The ability to fill two very different roles in Patricia’s defense will serve him well in training camp. In a 2015 game against Denver, he logged a total of 106 snaps between his defensive and special teams duties.

During that season Matt Patricia told Jim McBride of the Boston Globe the following regarding Freeny:

"“I think Jonathan has done a great job of trying to learn our system and come in and understand how we want to play the defense and the overall command of the defense, from a conceptual standpoint as a linebacker in our system, it’s very important you understand where everybody lines up, sits, plays, how it affects the defense, the adjustments, the communication, all of those things that you have to handle from a linebacker standpoint. He’s done a good job of growing in that role throughout the year and really understanding from a confidence standpoint where you need to be, where your help is, how to use your leverage and things like that.’’"

In 2016 Freeny returned to his special teams role before he landed on IR with a shoulder injury. He split last year between the New Orleans Saints, the Baltimore Ravens, and the Patriots. He comes to Detroit seeking to re-set his career on a positive note under a coach and general manager who were both likely involved in bringing him to New England. Lions general manager Bob Quinn was the director of the Patriots pro scouting department at the time.

Freeny is not going to be a starter for the Lions barring injuries. He has, however,  filled in for spot starting duty for Matt Patricia before. He is a camp body that will not have to learn what Matt Patricia expects. If the season were to start tomorrow, Feeny would likely be the backup for Devon Kennard. Both players are capable of playing off the ball and on the line of scrimmage.

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This is not a game-changing signing. It shows a continued commitment from general manager to bring in competition at every position. Feeny will compete with Steve Longa and Nick Bellore for special teams snaps.