The Pittsburgh Steelers will give LaMarr Woodley every opportunity to match or surpass the 13.5 sacks he had last season.
They're designing alignments that take advantage of the linebacker's proven pass-rushing skills. They're surrounding him with players who can create lanes to the quarterback for him and outside linebacker James Harrison. They plan to keep Woodley on the field during most downs.
What the Steelers will not give Woodley is the money they know he deserves.
The Steelers told Woodley they can't negotiate a new contract until after this season, when he'll earn $550,000 in the final year of the four-year contract that he signed as a second-round draft pick in 2007. That's a far-below-value contract for a player who had 25 sacks the last two seasons, plus six more in the playoffs, but the team has few options.
The NFL's labor contract contains a provision, which went into effect this year, that no new contract can pay a player more than 30 percent of what he made in base salary the previous season. Thus, Woodley couldn't make more than $598,000 this season even if he signed a new deal.
"It's part of the game, part of the business, and you just have to understand it," Woodley said.
That's of little consolation to a player who might make $35 million or more on the open market -- Harrison, for example, signed a six-year, $51.75 million contract with the Steelers last year. The Steelers could circumvent the provision by handing Woodley an enormous signing bonus, but a team known for wisely managing the salary cap traditionally doesn't do contracts that way.
For now, Woodley must wait to see how he is affected by a new NFL labor agreement, whenever it is reached.
"When I'm out on the field, I don't think about it. When I'm in my room, I don't think about it," Woodley said. "The only time it comes up is when the players joke around. But I don't keep up with other people's salaries. I don't go online looking at other people's salaries."
One more season like the last two, and Woodley likely will. He is tied for fifth in the league in sacks during his two seasons as a starter.
Woodley isn't alone in Steelers contract limbo, either. The team also told injured right tackle Willie Colon, kicker Jeff Reed and cornerback Ike Taylor that it won't hand out any new contracts this season.
Said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin: "We're at the point now where we always go where we can go, then we decide we have to move on with the season and we've reached that decision."
The only extensions the Steelers have done this offseason were for Colbert, who signed a five-year deal Wednesday and Tomlin, who had two years added to his contract last month.
By not negotiating with the four players, the Steelers are risking that they can give Woodley the franchise tag even if they can't reach a new contract with him.
To player representative Charlie Batch, it's simply a case of the contracts running out at the wrong time, during an uncapped season at the end of a labor agreement.
"Is it affecting their contracts? Absolutely," Batch said Tuesday. "Would LaMarr like a deal, does he deserve a new deal? Absolutely. But they're still going to have him for another two years. There's no possibility of him leaving after this year, that's not going to happen. ... It's just a matter of doing what's right."
Woodley appears determined not to let his contract status affect his play, especially with the Steelers coming off a 9-7 season that left them out of the playoffs.
"The contract's not going to motivate me. I was motivated from how we played last season," Woodley said. "I've been motivated since the last game in Miami, when we found out we weren't in the playoffs."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
