Stephen Holder

IndyStar

Jerrell Freeman’s stint with the Colts is over, but there remains room for debate after a bit of a messy separation.

The starting inside linebacker signed a three-year contract with the Chicago Bears on Saturday, and a great deal of focus immediately turned to whether the Colts made a true effort to retain their leading tackler from 2012 and '13.

Reports that Freeman spurned an identical offer from the Colts weeks ago gave rise to the notion that Freeman took the Bears’ offer to stick it to the Colts. Then again, Freeman suggested in comments to Chicago reporters that the Colts did not make an offer to him, which wasn’t entirely true, either.

Wanting to set the record straight about his departure from the only NFL team he's ever known, Freeman reached out to me.

The Bears’ offer, while on the surface a three-year, $12 million deal, is more lucrative than that. The difference, as Freeman pointed out, is the $2.5 million in incentives it contains – additional potential money that the Colts’ offer did not include. And that Colts offer, as Freeman understood it, was non-negotiable.

The Colts’ offer would have maxed out at $12 million, Freeman said. In theory, Freeman can earn a maximum of $14.5 million in Chicago.

The breakdown of Freeman’s escalators: He can earn $750,000 for playing 70 percent of snaps during the contract’s length and could see the full value of the contract if he reaches 90 percent of the snaps.

Fleener: Some Colts were 'along for the ride'

So to say Freeman accepted an offer identical to the one offered by the Colts is not correct, though it appears the base value of the deals are roughly the same.

It's important to understand the context of the Colts' first offer. Indianapolis made the offer weeks ago, long before Freeman had a chance to establish his market value by speaking to other teams. And, Freeman said, once he told the team he was leaning toward testing the free agent market, things took a turn.

"That was basically their best and final offer," he said. "That was it. That’s all they were going to offer. It was basically take it or leave it."

Freeman said he had no further negotiations with the Colts, including in recent days while he was on the market. He said the Colts' original offer was off the table once he decided to move on.

There’s a lot of gray area in this story, but it seems clear these negotiations were difficult. Freeman obviously was put off by the Colts’ offer last month. It was not surprising he felt that way. He’d wanted a new contract since 2015, when he played under a one-year restricted free agent tender that paid him $2.35 million. In the three seasons prior, Freeman played for the NFL minimum salary after signing a deal to join the Colts from the Canadian Football League.

AFC South loads up; are Colts still king?

He was hoping the patience would pay off in the form of a lucrative offer from the Colts. When it was wasn’t up to his standards, he fired his agent, hired Drew Rosenhaus and set out determined to find more money on the open market.

That’s business. That’s his right.

"It’s a business," he said. "There's no hard feelings."

Freeman then turned the page to his future with the Bears. Chicago, he said, is no fallback plan. He's enthusiastic about joining the Bears and a defense he thinks can be very good. Chicago also signed inside linebacker Danny Trevathan, who will play next to Freeman.

"The front seven is really good," he said. "They have a pretty good, young secondary, too."

Offensively, Freeman said, the Bears have unique talents in quarterback Jay Cutler and receivers Alshon Jeffrey and Kevin White.

I’m actually really happy about the decision," Freeman said. "I’m happy to go to Chicago. They have some pieces there. I’m just trying to be one of those pieces."

Follow IndyStar Colts Insider Stephen Holder on Twitter: @HolderStephen.

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