INDIANAPOLIS -- When Dwight Freeney was a high school senior in Bloomfield, Conn., Jim Caldwell sat in his living room and tried to sell him on Wake Forest.
Freeney played some tight end for Bloomfield High, and Caldwell told him the Demon Deacons would let him play a little offense.
"He promised me if I went to Wake Forest, that I could play offense and defense," Freeney said. "So I always give him a hard time. Obviously I went to Syracuse, I didn't go to Wake Forest. Since he's been here, as quarterback coach and what have you and now he's the head coach, now he has a little bit more say so, I'm trying to get a least one offensive play.
"I told him and I'm going to have to talk to Peyton [Manning], one red zone play, that's all I need. Just one. One fade route. Something."
How about fullback, someone asked.
"Nah, nah, nah," he said. "I want to catch the ball. The fullbacks here, we don't get a lot of receptions."
Several of us got to talk with team president Bill Polian for a while early in practice, and as we wrapped up someone conveyed Freeney's humorous plea for at least one snap on offense.
Polian finished with a zinger: "I've got two words for that: Lis Franc's."
A Lis Franc's foot injury suffered against San Diego in 2007 cost Freeney seven games plus the playoff loss to the Chargers.
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Paul Kuharsky
Kuharsky joined ESPN.com in 2008 after 12 years covering the Oilers/Titans and the NFL for The (Nashville) Tennessean. The New Jersey native and Columbia graduate lives in Nashville with his wife and son.