Early years

Woodley was born and raised in Saginaw, Michigan. While in high school, Woodley teamed with former Detroit Lions wide receiver Charles Rogers and former Chicago Bulls point guard Anthony Roberson on Saginaw High School's football team in 2000 to win Michigan's Division II state championship.

Considered a five-star recruit by Rivals.com, Woodley was listed as the No. 3 inside linebacker in the nation in 2003.

College career

Woodley enrolled at the University of Michigan, where he played for coach Lloyd Carr's Michigan Wolverines football team from 2003 to 2006. He predominantly played defensive end and sometimes linebacker, depending on the front seven's alignment. In 2006, Woodley was named the defensive captain of the Wolverines by his teammates. He collected 12 sacks as a senior and won the Lombardi Award as the best lineman, offensive or defensive, in the country. T-shirts were created by Dave Peabody of the blog Michigan Against the World and sold in Ann Arbor with the slogan, "Guns don't kill people. LaMarr Woodley kills people." His 12 sacks led the Big Ten conference, and it ranked 8th in the nation. Following his senior season in 2006, LaMarr was a first-team All-Big Ten selection, and was recognized as a unanimous first-team All-American.

National awards

• Unanimous first-team All-American (2006)
• Ted Hendricks Award (2006)
• Chuck Bednarik Award finalist (2006)
• Lott Trophy quarterfinalist (2006)
• Bronko Nagurski Trophy watchlist (2006)
• Outland Trophy watchlist (2006)

Conference honors

• Second-team All-Big Ten Conference (2004)
• Honorable mention All-Big Ten Conference (2005)
• First-team All-Big Ten Conference (2006)
• Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year (2006)
• Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year (2006)

Professional career

2007 NFL Combine

Pre-draft measurables

Ht	Wt	40-yd dash	10-yd split	20-yd split	20-ss	3-cone	Vert	Broad	BP
6 ft 2 in	266 lb	4.74 s	1.65 s	2.72 s	4.42 s	6.82 s	38.5 in	9 ft 9 in	29 reps

Pittsburgh Steelers

Woodley was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second round with the 46th overall pick of the 2007 NFL Draft. He originally wore Joey Porter's old number, 55, throughout training camp, but after Steelers' center Chukky Okobi was cut, he took Okobi's old number, 56. He recorded his first sack in his second NFL game, as he sacked Buffalo Bills quarterback J.P. Losman in the fourth quarter of Pittsburgh's 26-3 win over Buffalo. He recorded his second sack in three games, against Alex Smith of the San Francisco 49ers, in the fourth quarter of the Steelers' Week 3 37-16 win against the 49ers. In the 2008 season he was expected to start at the outside linebacker position left vacant when the Steelers let former starter Clark Haggans sign with the Arizona Cardinals. In Week 1 of the 2008 NFL season, Woodley was named GMC Defensive Player of the Week. He recorded three tackles, a sack, an interception, a defended pass, and a fumble recovery in his first career start. In week 4 of the 2008 NFL Season he recorded his first professional touchdown on a fumble recovery against the Baltimore Ravens. He finished the season with 11.5 sacks. In 2008, the Steelers won their division over the Baltimore Ravens by one game, with a 12-4 record sending them to the playoffs.

After defeating the San Diego Chargers 35-24 in the Divisional Round, they outlasted their division rivals, the Baltimore Ravens, 23-14 to advance to Super Bowl XLIII. With two sacks in both the Divisional Round and Conference Championship, Woodley became the first player in NFL history to record three consecutive multi-sack playoff games, dating back to the Steelers' 31-29 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Wild Card Round of the 2008 playoffs. In Super Bowl XLIII, Woodley extended this streak to four games when he sacked Kurt Warner twice, forcing the game-ending fumble on Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner with 5 seconds remaining in the game to secure the win.

In 2009, he recorded 62 tackles, 13.5 sacks, and 1 forced fumble. He was named to his first Pro Bowl for his outstanding performance. He is a member of the Air Jordan brand.

In 2010, Woodley had 50 tackles, 10.0 sacks, an interception (which he ran back for a touchdown), two pass deflections, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

During the 2011 season, Woodley missed six games with a hamstring injury and accordingly only recorded 39 tackles and 9.0 sacks. However, during the four game period when James Harrison (his OLB partner and Steelers primary pass rusher) was injured, Woodley moved into Harrison's role and greatly improved his performance, recording 7.5 sacks during those four games. He was voted 63rd best player of the 2011 season by NFL players.

On December 15, 2013 the Pittsburgh Steelers placed Lamar Woodley on the season ending IR due to a calf injury. At the time, he had 5 sacks, and 36 tackles in 11 games played in the season.

Woodley was released on March 11, 2014.

In 2011 Woodley famously predicted rival Ravens QB Joe Flacco would "never win a Super Bowl". Flacco proved him wrong by not only serving as starting QB for the 2012 Super Bowl Champion Ravens, but also becoming the MVP of that game following a historic playoff run.

Oakland Raiders

On March 13, 2014, Woodley signed a two-year contract with the Oakland Raiders. He was released by the Raiders after one season.

Arizona Cardinals

On March 10, 2015, Woodley signed a one-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals. On November 25, 2015, during Week 11's matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals, Woodley suffered a torn pectoral muscle. On November 26, 2015, Woodley was placed on Injured Reserve.

NFL stats

Year	Team	GP	COMB	TOTAL	AST	SACK	FF	FR	FR YDS	INT	IR YDS	AVG IR	LNG	TD	PD
2007	PIT	13	14	14	0	4.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2008	PIT	15	60	41	19	11.5	2	4	0	1	6	6	6	0	2
2009	PIT	16	62	50	12	13.5	1	1	77	0	0	0	0	0	5
2010	PIT	16	50	35	15	10.0	3	2	19	2	22	11	14	1	5
2011	PIT	10	39	26	13	9.0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	2
2012	PIT	13	38	27	11	4.0	1	1	0	1	11	11	11	0	1
2013	PIT	11	36	20	16	5.0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
2014	OAK	6	5	3	2	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Career		100	304	216	88	57.0	9	9	0	5	40	8	14	1	16

Key

• GP: games played
• COMB: combined tackles
• TOTAL: total tackles
• AST: assisted tackles
• SACK: sacks
• FF: forced fumbles
• FR: fumble recoveries
• FR YDS: fumble return yards
• INT: interceptions
• IR YDS: interception return yards
• AVG IR: average interception return
• LNG: longest interception return
• TD: interceptions returned for touchdown
• PD: passes defensed

Philanthropy

Since the start of his NFL career, Woodley has provided considerable amounts of free supplies to students in his hometown of Saginaw. In January 2012, he donated 100 hooded sweatshirts to the Saginaw High band before its halftime performance at the Sugar Bowl between Michigan and Virginia Tech. Later that year, he started a foundation to coordinate his charitable activities. Shortly after the foundation was formed, Woodley found out that the Saginaw City School District would have to institute a $75-per-student participation fee for high school athletics in the 2012-13 school year due to budget cutbacks. Through his foundation, he donated $60,000 to cover the fees for all athletes in the district—at Saginaw High, Arthur Hill High School, and the city's junior high and middle schools.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]