Antonio Freeman

Antonio Michael Freeman was born on May 27, 1972, and went on to become a wide receiver in the NFL, best known for his time with the Green Bay Packers. He attended Baltimore Polytechnic Institute before playing college football at Virginia Tech.

At Virginia Tech, Freeman caught 121 passes for 2,207 yards and 22 touchdowns over four seasons. He also returned 64 punts for 652 yards and a touchdown, and rushed for 37 yards. His college career earned him a spot in the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame. His season-by-season receiving totals were: 19 catches for 274 yards and 2 touchdowns in 1991; 32 catches for 703 yards and 6 touchdowns in 1992; 32 catches for 644 yards and 9 touchdowns in 1993; and 38 catches for 586 yards and 5 touchdowns in 1994.

The Packers selected Freeman in the third round of the 1995 NFL draft, 90th overall. As a rookie, he returned a punt 76 yards for a touchdown in a playoff win over Atlanta. He led the Packers in receiving from 1996 to 1999 and led the entire NFL in receiving yards in 1998.

Freeman’s peak came during his first stint with Green Bay, which included a victory in Super Bowl XXXI over the New England Patriots. In that game, he caught an 81-yard touchdown pass from Brett Favre, then a Super Bowl record for longest touchdown reception (later broken by Muhsin Muhammad’s 85-yard catch in Super Bowl XXXVIII). That play put the Packers ahead for good in a 35–21 win. Freeman finished the Super Bowl with three catches for 105 yards. The next season, he gained over 1,200 receiving yards as Green Bay returned to the Super Bowl, where he caught 9 passes for 126 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 31–24 loss to the Denver Broncos. His 230 all-purpose yards in that game ranked third highest in Super Bowl history.

In 1998, Freeman had his best season, catching 84 passes for a league-leading 1,424 yards and earning his only Pro Bowl selection. During a Monday night game on November 6, 2000, in overtime and bad weather, Freeman made a bizarre catch: after the ball bounced off multiple parts of his body without hitting the ground, he got up and ran it in for a game-winning touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings. ABC announcer Al Michaels shouted, “He did WHAT?!” ESPN later called it the greatest play in Monday Night Football history. Freeman himself ranked it as the second-best catch of his career, behind his 81-yard Super Bowl touchdown.

Freeman played for the Packers from 1995 through 2001. After a feud with head coach Mike Sherman, he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2002. His final game in his first Packers tenure was a 2001 playoff loss to the St. Louis Rams. He played one season with the Eagles before returning to Green Bay for the 2003 season. His last catch as a Packer came on the road in December 2003, during Brett Favre’s emotional Monday night performance following his father’s death. Freeman played his final game with Green Bay in the “4th and 26” playoff loss to the Eagles in January 2004. He last played in the NFL during the Miami Dolphins’ 2004 training camp.

Over ten NFL seasons, Freeman caught 477 passes for 7,251 yards, added 1,007 yards returning kickoffs and punts, and scored 61 touchdowns. He made the Pro Bowl in 1999. His teams reached the playoffs in seven of his seasons, including four NFC Championship Games and two Super Bowls. He ranks sixth all-time on the Packers’ receiving list with 6,651 yards on 431 catches. He had three 1,000-yard seasons (1997–1999). Nicknamed “Free,” he won a Pop Warner Award in 2006 for his work with youth.

Freeman signed with the Packers on June 16, 2007, to retire with the team. He was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 2009.

After football, Freeman has worked as an analyst on ESPN’s First Take and NFL Live, and has appeared on College GameDay supporting Virginia Tech. He also served as a commentator on Comcast SportsNet Washington’s Redskins coverage. He was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. Since 2010, he has hosted his own radio show, The End Zone with Antonio Freeman, which airs on WTSO in Madison and WOKY in Milwaukee.

Freeman is the father of Alex Freeman, a soccer player for Villarreal CF in La Liga, who received his first call-up to the United States men’s national team on May 22, 2025.