Dwight Freeney's departure from Indianapolis won't immediately and radically reshape the NFL landscape the way his former teammate Peyton Manning’s did a year ago, but there is no denying the significance of the move as it relates to the continued sea change of the Colts.

Indianapolis’ all-time sacks and forced fumbles leader, Freeney, more than any of his Colts teammates over the past decade, epitomized Bill Polian's need for speed on defense. In order to play their preferred Tampa-2 scheme, the Colts sacrificed size and brute strength for defenders who could flat out fly.

And while we don't normally associate defensive linemen with "flying," per se, Freeney was a lot like a superhero. Except his superpowers were speed, leverage and that devastating, paralyzing, often unstoppable spin move.

Only, last season, Freeney was finally overmatched. Father time rarely loses. Freeney, who will turn 33 next week, didn’t have his usual burst and edge domination — for whatever reason. Whether age, injury (Freeney suffered a high ankle sprain in the opening minutes of the 2012 season and often cited his injury as a reason for his struggles the rest of the way) or a system that simply didn’t suit him (he never looked comfortable in a two-point stance), Freeney looked, for essentially the first time in his otherwise dominant 11-year career, mortal. A pedestrian five sacks confirmed this sad truth.