Which NFL teams could use Devonta Freeman in their backfield?

Devonta Freeman may not be without an NFL team for very much longer.

Two-time Pro Bowl running back Devonta Freeman hopes to join a new team here soon.

Freeman spent his first six NFL seasons with the team that drafted him in the fourth round out of Florida State University in the Atlanta Falcons. From 2015 to 2016, Freeman was among the best running backs in football, as he made a pair of Pro Bowls as the featured back in Kyle Shanahan’s zone blocking scheme. Shanahan left Atlanta in 2017, and it’s been a frustrating three years since.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, “RB Devonta Freeman hired [Drew Rosenhaus] to find him work before training camp. ‘We want to work out a deal in the immediate future, and we are open to any team,’ Rosenhaus said. ‘He’s healthy, he’s in shape, and I’m on a mission to have him give a team a lift in late July.’”

Which 5 NFL teams could be in on the Devonta Freeman sweepstakes now?

While he would know what to expect on a return to Atlanta in Dirk Koetter’s offensive system, Freeman is not returning to the Falcons in 2020. They released him in favor of signing former Los Angeles Rams All-Pro and former Georgia Bulldogs standout Todd Gurley in favor of him, even with the major concerns surrounding his knee.

Freeman had been offered a contract by the Seattle Seahawks months ago, but he declined to play for that dollar amount. Seattle went out and signed former Houston Texans running back Carlos Hyde instead. So Freeman isn’t going to the Pacific Northwest to play his seventh NFL season out of Florida State in 2020. However, there are five teams to seriously keep an eye on here.

The most obvious team he could join is the Falcons’ division rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While they are loaded at the receiving corps, running backs like Ronald Jones II and Ke’Shawn Vaughn don’t exactly move the needle. Freeman is a tough runner, a fearless competitor and an adept receiver out of the backfield. Who cares if he can’t block squat in pass protection?

Another team who is probably No. 2 behind Tampa for his services is the Philadelphia Eagles. It’ll be The Miles Sanders Show in the City of Brotherly Love this season. However, he is still a good bit unproven at the professional level. He may need a veteran like Freeman to help share the workload, as the Eagles try to get back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2017.

If we want to include three other teams to make it a top-five, why not the Jacksonville Jaguars, the New England Patriots and the New York Jets? With Jacksonville, Leonard Fournette is in a contract year and his backup Chris Thompson always gets hurt. Jaguars offensive coordinator Jay Gruden runs a similar scheme to what Freeman starred in Atlanta under Shanahan.

The Patriots don’t have a ton of great offensive weapons to begin with. With Cam Newton’s threat to run with this legs, Freeman could have a bounce-back season serving as Sony Michel’s backup in Foxborough. As for the Jets, who knows how much tread is left on Le’Veon Bell’s tires anyway? Plus, Gang Green needs to figure it out quickly or otherwise, Adam Gase is gone after 2020.

Freeman won’t make top dollar, but there are teams who may be interested in signing him.