Former Chicago Bear Marcus Freeman Retires With Enlarged Heart

In the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft, the Chicago Bears selected Ohio State outside linebacker Marcus Freeman.  Freeman was thought to be a very talented outside LB, and his size and speed were things that caught Lovie Smith's eye.  Unfortunately, Freeman was among a very deep group of linebackers in Chicago, and was released just after preseason.

Fast forward almost a year, Freeman is retiring from the game, for the same medical reason as the late Gaines Adams.  From Brad Biggs:

The Chicago Bears traded a second-round draft pick back in mid-October for defensive end Gaines Adams and three months later he died of cardiac arrest, the result of an enlarged heart. Less than a month later, Marcus Freeman, a linebacker from Ohio State who the Bears drafted in the fifth round in 2009, failed a physical with Indianapolis.

The Colts were going to sign Freeman four days after losing Super Bowl XLIV. But after a routine physical – and then an additional four hours of tests on his heart that included stress tests and a cardiac MRI – Freeman was told he had an enlarged heart valve in his left ventricle. The Colts couldn’t pass him for a physical and no NFL team would.

Make sure you check out the full article from Biggs for all the details, and his other article on Freeman at the Tribune.