| No. 16, 19 | |||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Quarterback | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born: | (1958-10-25)October 25, 1958 Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Died: | May 4, 2003(2003-05-04) (aged 44) Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 204 lb (93 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | C. E. Byrd (Shreveport) | ||||||||||||||
| College: | LSU (1976–1979) | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1980: 8th round, 214th pick | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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David Eugene Woodley (October 25, 1958 – May 4, 2003) was an American professionalfootball player who was aquarterback in theNational Football League (NFL) for theMiami Dolphins (1980–1983), and thePittsburgh Steelers (1984–1985).[1][2][3] He playedcollege football for theLSU Tigers.
Born and raised inShreveport, Louisiana, Woodley was the fifth of seven children of attorney John Woodley and Hazel (Iles) Woodley.[4] He was a three-year starter and all-state quarterback forByrd High School in Shreveport and graduated in 1976. Woodley played college football at LSU inBaton Rouge under longtime head coachCharlie McClendon, sharing playing time with the more popularSteve Ensminger of Baton Rouge.[5]
In his final college game as a senior in December1979, he led theTigers to a 34–10 victory overWake Forest University in theTangerine Bowl and was named the game's Most Valuable Player; LSU finished the season at 7–5.
As quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, Woodley is best known as the bridge between the eras ofhall of famersBob Griese andDan Marino. Despite being an eighth-round selection in the1980 NFL draft and initially fourth on the depth chart, he was elected the team MVP for his rookie season in1980. That year, he set the Dolphins' team record for most pass completions (176) for a rookie quarterback, later broken byRyan Tannehill in2012. In1982, he became one of the few NFL players to score touchdowns passing, running and receiving in an NFL season. Woodley at one point split time with backupDon Strock so evenly that the quarterback tandem was often referred to as "WoodStrock".[6] Woodley started for the Dolphins in the1981 playoff game versus theSan Diego Chargers. After Miami fell behind 24–0, Strock led the Dolphins back into the game, though the Chargers ultimately won in overtime.
In the strike-shortened1982 Miami Dolphins season, Woodley handled the lion's share of the time at quarterback en route to Miami winning theAmerican Football Conference title. The Dolphins went on to face theWashington Redskins inSuper Bowl XVII. At 24 years and three months of age, he was the youngest quarterback to start aSuper Bowl at the time. Despite starting the game well with a 76-yard touchdown pass toJimmy Cefalo, Woodley and the entire offense then struggled, with no completions in eight attempts in the second half. The Redskins won, 27–17.[7]
Woodley began the1983 Miami Dolphins season as Miami's starting quarterback, but the Dolphins' offense continued to underperform. The ongoing struggles prompted coachDon Shula to insert Marino, then a rookie, into the lineup midway through a 17–7 road loss to theNew Orleans Saints in week five. By the next week, Marino was named the starter for the remainder of the season.
ThePittsburgh Steelers acquired Woodley in February 1984 by trading a third-round draft pick to Miami. He would compete withMark Malone for his new team's starting quarterback job, as elbow problems had forcedTerry Bradshaw to retire andCliff Stoudt had left for theUSFL. Infamously, this cameafter the Steelers passed uplocal native Marino forGabriel Rivera (who played in six NFL games before a drunk-driving crash left him paralyzed) in the1983 NFL draft.[8] Woodley split the starting quarterback duty with Malone during both the1984 and1985 NFL seasons.
Notified by head coachChuck Noll that Malone, and not he, would be the starter for the upcoming1986 season,[9][10] Woodley abruptly retired in June[11] despite being the Steelers' highest-paid player ($500,000).[12]
In1987, theGreen Bay Packers acquired Woodley from the Steelers for a draft pick,[9][10] but his stay was short, and his playing career officially ended when he was released in late August.[13]
Woodley is one of two quarterbacks in NFL history, along withKen Stabler, to have a career winning percentage above .600 while throwing at least 10 more interceptions than touchdowns. Woodley's career record was 34–18–1 (.651), despite throwing 63 interceptions against his 48 career touchdown passes.
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | Sacks | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | Lng | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Sck | Yds | ||
| 1980 | MIA | 13 | 11 | 6-5 | 176 | 327 | 53.8 | 1,850 | 5.7 | 61 | 14 | 17 | 63.1 | 55 | 214 | 3.9 | 17 | 3 | 17 | 127 |
| 1981 | MIA | 15 | 15 | 11-3-1 | 191 | 366 | 52.2 | 2,470 | 6.7 | 69 | 12 | 13 | 69.8 | 63 | 272 | 4.3 | 26 | 4 | 24 | 191 |
| 1982 | MIA | 9 | 9 | 7-2 | 98 | 179 | 54.7 | 1,080 | 6.0 | 46 | 5 | 8 | 63.5 | 36 | 207 | 5.8 | 29 | 2 | 10 | 82 |
| 1983 | MIA | 5 | 5 | 3-2 | 43 | 89 | 48.3 | 528 | 5.9 | 64 | 3 | 4 | 59.6 | 19 | 78 | 4.1 | 15 | 0 | 10 | 80 |
| 1984 | PIT | 7 | 7 | 3-4 | 85 | 156 | 54.5 | 1,273 | 8.2 | 80 | 8 | 7 | 79.9 | 11 | 14 | 1.3 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 67 |
| 1985 | PIT | 9 | 6 | 4-2 | 94 | 183 | 51.4 | 1,357 | 7.4 | 69 | 6 | 14 | 54.8 | 17 | 71 | 4.2 | 13 | 2 | 13 | 84 |
| Career | 58 | 53 | 34-18-1 | 687 | 1,300 | 52.8 | 8,558 | 6.6 | 80 | 48 | 63 | 65.7 | 201 | 856 | 4.3 | 29 | 11 | 84 | 631 | |
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | Sacks | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | Lng | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Sck | Yds | ||
| 1981 | MIA | 1 | 1 | 0-1 | 2 | 5 | 40.0 | 20 | 4.0 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 12.5 | 1 | 10 | 10.0 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 29 |
| 1982 | MIA | 4 | 4 | 3-1 | 46 | 76 | 60.5 | 625 | 8.2 | 76 | 5 | 5 | 81.3 | 16 | 92 | 5.8 | 17 | 1 | 8 | 72 |
| Career | 5 | 5 | 3-2 | 48 | 81 | 59.3 | 645 | 8.0 | 76 | 5 | 6 | 74.4 | 17 | 102 | 6.0 | 17 | 1 | 11 | 101 | |
After football, Woodley returned to Shreveport and increasingly drank, causing several health problems.[3][5] Married in 1981 to Suzanne Pugh,[4] the couple later divorced.[5] At age 33, he underwent aliver transplant at Willis-Knighton Medical Center in Shreveport in March 1992.[14][15][16][17] Eleven years later, Woodley died from complications due to kidney and liver failure on May 4, 2003.[1][2][18] Twenty years after Super Bowl XVII, he became the youngest Super Bowl starting quarterback to die. Since Woodley's death, onlySuper Bowl XXXIV starterSteve McNair, murdered in 2009 at age 36, died at a younger age. Woodley was buried at St. Joseph Cemetery in Shreveport, alongside his parents.