The Pittsburgh Steelers' James Farrior has signed a new five-year contract, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Steelers linebacker has had a pretty successful career and the contract will take him through the 2012 season, when he’ll be 38 years old, so this will probably be the last contract of his NFL career.
Farrior went to the University of Virginia and was drafted by the New York Jets as the eighth pick in the first round in the 1997 draft. In his rookie year, he made 77 tackles. In 2001, Farrior went to his current home, the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he continued to do well. He was part of the winning team in Super Bowl XL in Detroit. He was also invited to the 2004 Pro Bowl. Last year, he had 96 tackles and 6.5 sacks.
Farrior made it clear that he wanted to remain a Steeler for the rest of his career and the Steelers responded with a quite generous offer. Yesterday the Steelers offered a five-year contract, worth $18.25 million with a $5 million signing bonus. He will get a little less than $10 million in his first two years.
“That is the game plan, to try to finish out my career here,” said Farrior. “The Steelers have been good to me. I put all of my heart and soul into this and I am going to try and close it out.”
Head coach Mike Tomlin, said about Farrior and the contract, “James has played at an extremely high level the entire time I have been here. It’s a pleasure to get that deal done. We are glad that it’s done. It’s great to know he is going to be a part of us here in the future. Not only is he an outstanding player, he is an outstanding professional. He is an outstanding leader for us and has been a captain of our defense for awhile.”
Farrior hopes to have and end a quite successful career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, proudly sporting the Black and Gold. So far they've impressed in the preseason. They played Buffalo Bills in Toronto and the Philadelphia Eagles in Pittsburgh. They won against the Eagles, but lost in a very close game to the Bills. The team has looked very good and are expected to do well this year, despite their hard schedule, which has been deemed the hardest schedule in the NFL, playing teams like the Patriots and the Jaguars. They open in Pittsburgh on September 7th against the Texans.
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