Devonta Freeman says new contract with Falcons will be ‘something great’

Devonta Freeman insists he isn’t in any hurry to sign a new contract with the Atlanta Falcons.

The standout running back realizes that “people are on vacation,” so the process of getting a deal done is likely on hold for the time being. But when the negotiations are finished, Freeman expects the compensation to be commensurate with his back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons and other accomplishments that make him one of the NFL’s top players at his position.

‘I’m not just an average running back’

“I wouldn’t say just ‘something’ (will get done),” Freeman told Bruce Murray and Brady Quinn on the SiriusXM Blitz. “I definitely think it’ll be great. I don’t like to use ‘something,’ because I’m not just an average running back. I feel like it’ll be something great.”

But as happy as Freeman anticipates being from a new contract, he is still coping with the emotional wounds from the Falcons’ devastating Super Bowl LI loss against the New England Patriots. Blowing a 25-point lead is something that he and his teammates will never forget.

‘I don’t think I’ll ever move on from (losing Super Bowl LI)’

“It’s hard to move on from something like that,” Freeman said. “I don’t think I’ll ever move on from something like that. To be honest, I think it’ll always play in the back of my head, just because I know, I feel like we’re going to get a Super Bowl this year. And I feel like this could have been two (Super Bowl wins in a row). I could have been close to Tom Brady, you know what I mean? It’ll always play in the back of my head and the back of my mind.

“I feel like you can’t dwell on the things that went wrong. We’re going to always look at that game and say, ‘I wish I could have did this, I wish I could have did that.’ The next time, we’ll just make sure we seize the moment.”

‘If I would have stayed in the game, I would have got MVP’

Freeman also said, had the Falcons won, he would have been the MVP of the Super Bowl rather than Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan.

“I’m just talking about from based off that game,” he said. “Let’s say it like this, if I would have stayed in the game — I don’t know why I got out the game, actually — but if I would have stayed in the game, I would have got MVP. I look at my stats and I see my numbers didn’t lie. Look at my numbers.”