‘You go into football heaven’

INDIANAPOLIS – Dwight Freeney has reached NFL nirvana.

The long-time irresistible defensive force with the Indianapolis Colts and acrossi the NFL landscape has been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which was announced Thursday night during the NFL Honors in Las Vegas.

Freeney earned a forever place in Canton, Ohio as a member of the Class of 2024 in his second year of eligibility. He was among the 15 modern-era finalists last year but failed to garner the required support.

Not so in year two.

“When all of a sudden you accomplish something like this, you go into football heaven. You really do,’’ Freeney told FOX59/CBS4. “It’s something you’ll remember forever, obviously.It means the world because it’s not just about you.’’

Freeney insisted “the party’s for everybody. All my friends.’’

That includes his wife, Brittany, NBA legend and close friend Michael Jordan, and everyone who helped his evolution from standout defensive end at Syracuse to first-round draft pick and All-Pro pass rusher with the Colts to Canton.

“This is a win for Team Freeney, in a way,’’ Freeney said. “I represent my town, I represent my family, I represent my friends, I represent my teammates, I represent the strength coaches and all those people who helped me get here. Everybody has a little part of it and a big part of it. It’s an awesome feeling. That’s all you can say. It’s hard to describe the joy that you feel because of the magnitude. There is no higher achievement in the game of football than this. From an individual standpoint, there is none.’’

Freeney’s path to Canton is littered with crumbled quarterbacks. He piled up 125.5 sacks during a career that spanned 16 seasons and stints with six teams – the first 11 seasons and 107.5 sacks were with the Colts – and is tied for No. 3 all-time with 47 forced fumbles.

Perhaps it’s appropriate one of the other four modern-era inductees is Julius Peppers.

They entered the NFL in 2002 – Peppers as the No. 1 overall pick by Carolina and Freeney as No. 11 to Indy – and Peppers is the player who shares the forced-fumbles mark with Freeney.

The entire Class of 2024: Freeney, Peppers, kick return specialist Devin Hester, linebacker Patrick Willis, wide receiver Andre Johnson and senior nominees Steve McMichael and Randy Gradishar.

Truth be known, Freeney believes his inclusion is a year late.

He expected a call from the Pro Football Hall of Fame 12 months ago.

“In my mind, the first ballot is what you really want,’’ he said. “You want to be one of those first-ballot guys.’’

The modern-era members of the Class of 2023, Freeney’s first year of eligibility consisted of defensive end DeMarcus Ware, offensive tackle Joe Thomas, linebacker Zach Thomas and cornerbacks Darrelle Revis and Ronde Barber.

It was Thomas, a six-time first-team All-Pro who was selected in his first year of eligibility, who described Freeney as “the best pass rusher I faced in my 11 seasons. I don’t think anyone was more of a game-changer that I played against.’’

Not being selected last year altered Freeney’s approach in Year two. As much as possible, he ignored the weeks and months leading up to when the Class of 2024 would be determined.

The Selection Committee – I am one of 50 selectors – met via Zoom last month.

“I can’t control what’s going on, so I tried not to worry about it,’’ Freeney said. “I learned my lesson. I couldn’t have even told you who the 15 finalists were. I didn’t even look. I just wanted to keep the blinders on and say, ‘Hey, if it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.’ If I got the call, great. There’s a lot of guys – obviously Reggie Wayne’s one of them, Jared Allen is another – that every year would be on the finalist list and not get in. I didn’t want to be that guy who was emotionally played with like that.’’

Brittany confirmed her husband’s “blinders’’ approach.

“He was so emotionally tied to it last year that he couldn’t go through it again,’’ she said. “He couldn’t get his hopes up only to be disappointed. After the group was announced last year, he told me he obviously wants it very badly, but he didn’t want to worry about all the steps he had to go through. He told me, ‘Let’s just not talk about it and hopefully it all works out.’’’

It did.

Canton is Freeney’s final football destination but wasn’t a driving motivation as he transitioned from Bloomfield (Conn.) H.S. to Syracuse to the NFL.

“It’s one of those things that isn’t really on your mind,’’ he said. “I didn’t think while I was playing and making tackles and making sacks I was going to be a Hall of Famer. I just went out and played as hard as I possibly could. I wanted to win for my team. I wanted to win for my family. I wanted to win for the city. You hear people say, ‘It was all worth it now.’ No, it was worth it whether I was a Hall of Famer or not. But this does put the icing on the cake. It does make me feel that everything I did to this point was right. Someone can follow this path and hopefully get to this point.’’

The Colts Club grows

The Indy Colts’ presence in Canton grows. And we’re not talking about an Andre Johnson (2015 with the franchise) or a Joe Kelcko (1988).

We’re talking about franchise cornerstones.

Freeney is the sixth individual with firm Indy roots to earn a bronze bust in Canton in the past 10 years.

The list: Freeney, Peyton Manning (Class of 2021), Edgerrin James (2020), Tony Dungy (2016), Marvin Harrison (2016) and Bill Polian (2015).

And that list could expand further.

Wayne has been a modern-era finalist for the past five seasons, and his candidacy should remain strong next year.

Also, kicker Adam Vinatieri will be eligible for the first time and Robert Mathis, the Colts’ career sack leader, will be in his third year of eligibility.

You can follow Mike Chappell on Twitter at @mchappell51.