6 best Steelers free agent signings under Kevin Colbert
By Brendan Howe
James Farrior
It’s hard to visualize James Farrior in anything but a black and gold no. 51 jersey, but he dressed in hunter green and white for the first five years of his professional career.
Supplanting the bungling Rich Kotite, newly-hired head coach Bill Parcells and the Jets held the first overall choice in the 1997 NFL Draft. Snubbed by soon-to-be college senior Peyton Manning, New York traded down twice and ended up plucking Farrior with the 8th turn.
An inside linebacker at the University of Virginia, Farrior was pushed outside in defensive coordinator Bill Belichick’s 3-4 arrangement. He never panned out with Gang Green like his coaches hoped, rather serving as a substitute for the majority of his time in Gotham.
Despite the Jets making an effort to retain him, Farrior left in 2002, taking a three-year, $5.4 million deal to replace Earl Holmes in Pittsburgh.
A defensive co-captain, Farrior was a pillar of a commanding defensive group for a decade. At the heart of the Steelers’ unit beside the likes of Kendrell Bell and Larry Foote, the inside linebacker played a total of 170 games with Pittsburgh. He started 169 of them.
Farrior, a two-time Pro Bowler, paced the team in tackles in five different seasons and, since 1994, when tackles began to be consistently recorded, he leads all Steelers with 740 solo takedowns.
In 2004, Farrior earned his only All-Pro nod while also finishing as runner-up to Hall of Famer Ed Reed as NFL Defensive Player of the Year.