INDIANAPOLIS -- Dwight Freeney felt as if he were back at training camp Wednesday.
Contrary to the conventional wisdom, Freeney believes the NFL's players and owners will reach a new collective bargaining agreement in time for training camps to start as scheduled in late July or early August.
"I think so," he said. "I mean, why not? We have the best game in the world."
Freeney said he is one of many Colts participating in player-organized workouts at an undisclosed location in the Indy area.
"We're doing a little bit," he said with a smile. "It's hard to get everything organized, but we've got some small organized groups getting things done."
He didn't elaborate.
Players have been busy doing other things, too.
Punter Pat McAfee spent part of this week filling in as a radio talk-show host and attending draft workouts staged by the NBA's Indiana Pacers.
Freeney is putting on a two-day camp for children ages 7 to 14 at North Central High School on the city's north side.
On Thursday, defensive end Robert Mathis and Pacers center Roy Hibbert will organize a celebrity softball game to raise money for the Indiana Wish Fund, and players from the Colts, including Freeney, and Pacers are expected to attend.
But it's not just players working in this uncertain world. Team officials also are trying to finalize training-camp plans.
The Colts last year moved training camp back to Anderson University, a Division III school about 45 miles northeast of the city, after spending 11 years in Terre Haute, Ind., near the Illinois border.
Team owner Jim Irsay has said the team will return to Anderson -- if camp starts on time. Anderson officials say the school will be ready for whatever happens, and Colts general manager Chris Polian told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the Colts have not established a deadline for making their decision.
"At this juncture, we have a little bit of a calendar to work with," Polian said. "Hopefully, we'll go back to business as usual on the regular calendar. But until we know the rules and the landscape, it's hard to say we're leaning one way or the other. The biggest thing is to be flexible and prepared for all situations."
Polian, whose father was the architect of the Colts' dynamic run over the last decade, is closely monitoring the progress of the talks.
Freeney is not.
"My thought is 'Let me know when we get it done,'" Freeney said. "We have to come to an agreement, and it does no good to stress myself out by praying or thinking about it. So just let me know when it's done."
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
