If I Had To Guess I Would Say That Devonta Freeman Is Done With Your Contract Questions

TheSportingNews- Devonta Freeman is set to play the biggest game of his football career on Sunday, and he's not letting anything distract him.

One thing that might have distracted him this week was his agent saying Freeman deserved to be paid like an "elite back." Being asked all week about his contract status won't trip up the Falcons running back, though, as he's been through plenty in life.

“Where I come from, where I grew up at, you know I could be playing in the middle of the field — we called it ‘The O’ in the Pork ‘n’ Beans projects [in Miami] — and a shootout might start,” Freeman told reporters Wednesday. “You know, that’s a distraction. Dodging a bullet or something like that, that’s a distraction. That’s frustration, going to sleep every night thinking you might hear gun shots. That was the stuff that was distracting to me. This is football. Ain’t no distraction.”



Bravo Devonta, Bravo. Media members can be some persistent sons of bitches; Especially when they are given an entire week that's pretty much solely devoted to using their craft to endlessly promote a game whose legitimate storylines could easily be wrapped up in about six hours worth of coverage. For that reason, it's not easy to weasel out of a narrative as obvious as contract speculation when you're on the cusp of the biggest game of your career. 

Well, I guess that misdirection isn't just an on-field attribute, because - while Devonta Freeman's answer had almost nothing to do with the question - it surely sent every middle aged white guy flipping through their notepad looking for a subject change. There were some distinct responses they were looking for there and gun violence amongst urban youths was definitely NOT one of them. Constantly feeling like your life is at risk is surely something that takes your mind off football, but let's just say that if the media were the people polled for 'Family Feud' than "dodging bullets" would have fallen safely outside the top six on the list of distractions. I'm talking a fat red X and ZERO points awarded, because a shocking glimpse into his rough upbringing was not the direction they were trying to push him in with that inquisition. 

Obviously I can respect the trials and tribulations that Devonta Freeman has had to overcome to be no more than one game away from potentially negotiating a huge payday as a Super Bowl Champion. However, if you don't think that answer was at least partially to silence the contract discussion for good then we'll just have to agree to disagree.