A few weeks ago, our very own Jeremy Hritz wondered if former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison might have been the player behind the anonymous “out of shape” comments made about linebacker LaMarr Woodley following the 2012 season, but I think it\’s safe to say that we can put that speculation to rest now.
Harrison, who signed with the Cincinnati Bengals several weeks after his March release from the Steelers, flew to Saginaw, Michigan on Friday to take part in Woodley\’s sixth annual free football camp that took place Saturday at Saginaw High. Keep in mind that Harrison hates to fly and said as much on Twitter Friday night.
Harrison tweeted: “This plane is so small!!! LaMarr Woodley your lucky your my dude or I wouldn\’t even think about staying on here!”
Woodley talked Saturday about his former teammate, who the Steelers will first face in Week 2 of the 2013 season on Monday Night Football.
“We\’re going to beat the Bengals twice, and Harrison will say they\’ll beat us twice,” Woodley told Hugh Bernreuter of the Saginaw News. “James looks mean and tough, but he\’s one of the nicest guys you\’re going to meet.”
Last month, Woodley was a bit standoffish when asked to comment on an anonymous teammate ripping him to Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette back in February.
“He was awful,” an anonymous Steelers player told Cook. “He tells us he works out, but we didn\’t see it. He wasn\’t in shape. That has to be a reason why he was always hurt.”
Woodley\’s replies to several questions last month when he arrived for their first week of OTA\’s were a bit curious and hard to interpret, however.
“Actually, I think the anonymous person was next to me in the locker room, but actually that’s my locker next to me,” said Woodley, when asked if he ever talked to the anonymous person who made the comments. “I never had an opportunity to talk to them.”
Later in that interview Woodley was asked if Harrison would help the Bengals in 2013 and his answer was short.
“I don’t know. We’ll see,” shot back Woodley to the reporter.
We aren\’t likely ever going to know which player made those comments about Woodley unless Cook comes clean with a name, but being as former Steelers safety Ryan Mundy was also helping Woodley out at his camp over the weekend, I think we can safely rule him out as well.
With both Harrison and Mundy now safely ruled out, that leaves us with only 50 other suspects and a very suspicious locker, which I don\’t believe flew to Michigan to help Woodley with his camp.
