The Steelers main priority this offseason was signing cornerback Ike Taylor to prevent him from leaving via free agency. After Kevin Colbert took care of Taylor, attention shifted towards locking up linebacker LaMarr Woodley long-term. After Woodley was given the franchise tag worth $10 million just prior to the lockout, he has been bombarded with questions about his future with the Steelers and signing a long-term deal.
“If you can’t live off of $10 million, you got problems,” Woodley said yesterday.
However, news broke early Friday morning that Woodley would be a Steeler for life as he signed a new 6-year $61 million deal making him the second highest paid Steeler in history, second only to Ben Roethlisberger. The deal includes $18.1 million in the first year, $22.5 million signing bonus and drops his cap number from $10 million to $6.5 million.
“Wanted u 2 hear it here 1st- drafted here… super bowl here.. will retire here!! time 2 get u #7!! @STEELERS 4 LIFE!!,” Woodley said as he took to his Twitter account.
What’s next on the Steelers list? One would think safety Troy Polamalu and linebacker Lawrence Timmons would be the top priorities. Conventional wisdom would say the Steelers will look to extend Polamalu’s contract as it expires the end of next season and then place the franchise tag on Timmons at the end of this season. The Steelers continue the trend off staying away from the big free agents and choosing to reward their own. Those six trophies known as the Lombardi’s shows that they seem to know what they’re doing.
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