Before signing a two-year, $12 million contract with the Raiders, LaMarr Woodley reached out to the Lions. They weren’t interested.
Woodley, who grew up in Michigan and played his college football at Michigan, told Terry Foster of CBS Detroit that he wanted to play at home so badly that he wanted to take less money to do it, but the Lions never returned his calls.
It’s not surprising that Woodley was open to taking less money to go home. He has shown in the past that his ties to his home town mean more to him than money; we noted a couple of years ago that Woodley had donated $60,000 to make up the difference when budget cuts hit the athletic department of his old high school.
But it’s also not a big surprise that the Lions weren’t interested. Woodley has slowed down and battled injuries in the last few years, and he’s not a great fit for the Lions’ defense. In the community, Woodley as a Lion would have been great. On the football field, Woodley as a Raider makes more sense.