Dejan Kovacevic reports that the Steelers are trying to negotiate a long-term deal with linebacker LaMarr Woodley.
Woodley declined to discuss specifics of the Steelers' approach, but, when asked if the term could be five or six years, he smiled and replied, "Hopefully, yeah. That would be nice."
Woodley currently has the Steelers' franchise tag, which means his 2011 salary is $10 million, all of which counts against the cap. If the Steelers were to sign him beyond this year, they would get a considerable amount of cap relief for 2011, which they need right now as they're dropping veterans like Max Starks, Flozell Adams and Antwaan Randle El to clear cap space. Several other Steelers, such as Ben Roethlisberger and James Harrison, have agreed to restructure their contracts. The exact details of those restructurings are not yet known, but the Steelers are probably somewhere around the cap, which is about $123 million.
Obviously, another potential benefit to re-signing Woodley is that the Steelers would have him signed for several years beyond 2011.
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