Timmons agrees to 5-year contract

Steelers will have all draft picks in camp

Monday, July 23, 2007

By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Steelers will have all of their rookies in training camp today after coming to a five-year contract agreement with first-round draft choice Lawrence Timmons yesterday.

Timmons, who has been working out in Pittsburgh, signed the contract yesterday at team headquarters. It is worth slightly less than $12 million in base salary and could be worth as much as $15 million with the incentives. He will receive various guaranteed bonuses of $8,053,000 that includes signing and roster bonuses.

"We think it was very important to get Lawrence signed on time to give him an opportunity to reach his immense potential," said his agent, Drew Rosenhaus. "Obviously, Mike Tomlin's in his first training camp and Lawrence is his first draft pick as head coach and we wanted him to be there. He's off to a great start."

Timmons, a linebacker from Florida State, was the 15th overall pick in the draft. He is the highest pick and only the third in the first round to sign a contract.

Under new rules, the Steelers could have pushed for a six-year contract because Timmons was picked in the first half of the draft.

"It's a five-year deal, which was very important," Rosenhaus said. "The Steelers were able to work with us on that. It's a very good deal all the way around for everybody."

Rosenhaus and his partner/brother Jason were scheduled to fly to Pittsburgh from Florida yesterday afternoon to complete negotiations, but made enough progress on the telephone with Steelers negotiator Omar Khan to come to terms.

"There was a lot of pressure, both on myself and on Omar, to get this deal done given the fact the Steelers are the first team to report to training camp," Rosenhaus said.

Tomlin has put Timmons at right outside linebacker, where Joey Porter started the past seven years. Porter was released in March, ostensibly for salary cap purposes, and signed with the Miami Dolphins. The Steelers then made two outside linebackers their top draft choices -- LaMarr Woodley of Michigan has been placed on the left side behind Clark Haggans.

Timmons is listed second on the training camp depth chart behind James Harrison. Woodley is listed third on the left side behind Haggans and Arnold Harrison.

Timmons, 21, is 6 feet 1 and weighs 234 pounds. He's the first linebacker drafted in the first round by the Steelers since 1991. He did not become a starter until last season at Florida State, as a junior. In 13 starts at strongside outside linebacker, he had five sacks and was second on the team with 79 tackles.