As expected, the Oakland Raiders released defensive end LaMarr Woodley on Thursday and now the 30-year-old former Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker will get a small jump on the free agent competition with the new league year scheduled to start Tuesday afternoon.
Woodley suffered a torn triceps last season and only registered five total tackles in the six games that he played in before getting injured and being placed on the Raiders injured reserve list.
Woodley, who was drafted by the Steelers in the second round of the 2007 NFL Draft out of Michigan, has missed 24 regular season games due to injuries over the course of the last four seasons. Because of his injury history, he’ll more than likely have to accept a one-year deal for at or near the league minimum next season if he wants to continue playing.
While several members of the local Pittsburgh media don’t believe that the Steelers will be interested in taking another look at Woodley, it would make sense for them to kick his tires nonetheless being as they currently only have one outside linebacker, Jarvis Jones, under contract for the 2015 season. The team is likely going to lose soon-to-be unrestricted free agent outside linebacker Jason Worilds during the offseason and so far they have yet to re-sign fellow outside linebacker Arthur Moats.
Woodley signed a two year contract worth $10.35 million last offseason with the Raiders after being released by the Steelers last March. He is scheduled to count $8.580 million against the Steelers 2015 salary cap number as that was the dead money left over after as he was designated a post-June 1 release.
