Getty Images

Peyton Manning and Dwight Freeney were teammates for 10 years in Indianapolis, but now that Manning is in Denver and Freeney is in San Diego, they’ll play against each other for the first time this season. And Freeney is licking his chops.

Freeney said on XTRA Sports 1360 in San Diego that after all those years of lining up against Manning in practice but knowing he could never put a hand on the team’s starting quarterback, it will be fun to play full-speed against Manning this year.

“It would definitely be great to get after him,” Freeney said. “He’s a great competitor, I’m a great competitor. How many times have I envisioned hitting him during practice, when he had that five-yard halo around him and you couldn’t go in that circle? Millions of times. So it would be fun to get after him a little bit.”

Freeney said he loved playing with Manning and considers him to be like family. But Manning should be ready for a rough game of family football.