'He had me cooked': Ex-Vikings player recalls Dwight Freeney ‘Welcome to the NFL’ moment

Every player who has reached the pinnacle of professional football has a "Welcome to the NFL" story to tell — and the tale shared recently by former Minnesota Vikings offensive lineman Jeremiah Sirles features a tantalizing experience with Hall of Fame defensive end Dwight Freeney.

"It was definitely my rookie year in practice when I got spun on by Dwight Freeney," Sirles said on a recent episode of Purple Insider with Matthew Coller.

Sirles, who played for the Vikings in 2016 and 2017, was a rookie with then–San Diego Chargers in 2014 when he learned what it was like trying to block Freeney — who at that point in his career was an 11-year superstar with 108 sacks, seven Pro Bowl selections, and three First Team All-Pro honors attached to his name.

"I was just kind of like, 'That was awesome, yet terrifying all at the same time,'" Sirles recalled of Freeney's devastating spin move. "It was just one of those things where in practice you're like, 'OK, he's going to spin, he's going to spin — and then he wouldn't spin. And then OK, he's going to spin, he's going to spin — and then he'd bull rush. All of sudden you're like, OK, he's going to bull rush — and all of a sudden I remember he spun, he caught my inside hand perfectly with that right elbow, like deadened my whole arm, cleared my shoulder with his hip and then just right by the quarterback.

"I was like, 'That was awesome. That was so freaking cool.' But then you're like, man, I need to get my game up because I don't know how to stop that. I had no way of stopping that. He had me cooked. I can remember having those type of moments. Like, holy cow, these dudes are a different breed. I'd never seen something like that before, and he was on the tail end of his career. I had never seen something like that before in my life — just the technician, and the way he set me up during practice and played me like a fiddle. It was a true, these are professionals and tacticians as pass rushers."

You can watch the full interview with Sirles here.