Woodley's value grows by the day
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Linebacker LaMarr Woodley intercepts pass from Titans Vince Youing in last week's win in Nashville.
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On an athleticism scale of 1 to 10, Steelers outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley's interception against the Tennessee Titans last Sunday was at least a 14, especially considering how big he is and how he lugged every one of his 265 or more pounds into pass coverage. So why did his teammates give him the business when they saw the play on tape Monday? "They couldn't believe that Chris Johnson -- a 190-pound running back -- brought me down," Woodley said.
Go back to last season. Woodley picked up a Brett Favre fumble and returned it 77 yards for a touchdown to help the Steelers beat the Minnesota Vikings. "They told me I was too slow and that it took me too long to get to the end zone," Woodley said. "No matter what I do, it isn't good enough."
Woodley could bite back, you know? If that were his way.
"You guys are going to miss me when I'm gone ... "
Good thing that's not Woodley's way.
"Absolutely, I want to say here," he said last week.
"I don't have time to start over again somewhere else. I don't want to have to find a new place to live and make new friends. I like it here ...
"My whole life, I've played on big-time football teams. Saginaw (Mich.) High ... Michigan ... The Steelers. You know all about the history and tradition here. That's big to me. Real big."
The Steelers can't let this guy get away, can they? That just can't happen. Director of football operations Kevin Colbert and coach Mike Tomlin are too smart to allow it. They almost always find a way to keep a guy they really like. "We know he's a pretty special player. We've told him that," Colbert said during training camp.
Woodley is in the unfortunate spot of having his original four-year contract with the Steelers expiring at the end of the season at a time when there's labor uncertainty in the NFL.
That's why the team wasn't able to do a new deal with him this summer. He's playing this season for $550,000, a ridiculous amount of money for most of us, but next-to-nothing for a Pro Bowl linebacker who had 13 1/2 sacks last season and 11 1/2 in 2008, not counting the two he had in each of three postseason games as the Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII.
First Published September 26, 2010 12:00 am
