 Wood in 2013 | |||||||
| No. 70 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Center | ||||||
| Personal information | |||||||
| Born | (1986-03-18)March 18, 1986 (age 39) Cincinnati,Ohio, U.S. | ||||||
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||
| Weight | 310 lb (141 kg) | ||||||
| Career information | |||||||
| High school | Elder (Cincinnati) | ||||||
| College | Louisville (2004–2008) | ||||||
| NFL draft | 2009: 1st round, 28th overall pick | ||||||
| Career history | |||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||
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Eric Wood (born March 18, 1986) is an American former professionalfootball player who was acenter for theBuffalo Bills of theNational Football League (NFL). He playedcollege football for theLouisville Cardinals and was selected in the first round of the2009 NFL draft by the Bills with the 28th overall pick. Wood played nine seasons in the NFL, including aPro Bowl appearance, before retiring following the 2017 season due to a neck injury.[1] Since 2019, he has been the color commentator and analyst on theBuffalo Bills Radio Network.
Wood attendedElder High School inCincinnati, Ohio, where he played both thetackle and guard positions. His team went 28–2 over the last two seasons, including two consecutive state titles. After playingtight end as a junior, Wood started all 15 games at offensive tackle in his senior year and earned first-team All-League honors.
Considered a two-star recruit by bothRivals.com andScout.com,[2][3] Wood was not ranked among the nation's top offensive line prospects. He chose Louisville overBowling Green,Ohio,Cincinnati,Indiana andColumbia.
Afterredshirting his initial year at Louisville, Wood started all 12 games atcenter for theCardinals in 2005. He earned Freshman All-American honors byRivals.com,Sporting News andCollege Football News. Wood was an excellent student, earned Academic All-Big East accolades as well.
Wood remained Louisville's starting center in his sophomore and junior seasons, starting all 13 and 12 games, respectively. Led byquarterbackBrian Brohm, the2007 Cardinals offense ranked sixth nationally with an average of 488.0 yards per game. Wood earned All-Big East honors in both years, and again in his senior season. He finished his career with 49 consecutive starts at center, the second-longest streak in school history behindTravis Leffew (51, 2002–05).
AlongsideAlex Mack, Wood was considered one of the best centers available in the2009 NFL draft.[4] He has been compared toBrad Meester byThe Sporting News,[5] but his instincts and "nastiness" on the field had scouts comparing him to the NFL's old time centers likeMike Webster of thePittsburgh Steelers andTim Grunhard of theKansas City Chiefs.[6]
Wood was selected with the 28th pick of the2009 NFL draft by theBuffalo Bills, using the pick acquired from thePhiladelphia Eagles via a trade forJason Peters.[7] With Mack being selected with the 21st pick by theCleveland Browns, at marked the first time two centers were drafted in round one since the1983 NFL draft, withDave Rimington andDon Mosebar.
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft3+7⁄8 in (1.93 m) | 310 lb (141 kg) | 33+3⁄4 in (0.86 m) | 10+3⁄8 in (0.26 m) | 5.24 s | 1.83 s | 3.02 s | 4.51 s | 7.56 s | 30.5 in (0.77 m) | 8 ft 3 in (2.51 m) | 30 reps | |
| All values fromNFL Combine[8][9] | ||||||||||||
In his rookie season, Wood was counted on to start at right guard. He joined a completely retooled Bills offensive line that was expected to feature two rookie starters—him, and second round pickAndy Levitre at left guard—and no players returning to the same position. On July 28, 2009, Wood signed a five-year contract with the Bills, reportedly worth more than $12 million.[10]
Wood immediately became the Bills starting rightoffensive guard next to centerGeoff Hangartner, with Levitre at left guard.[11] On November 22, 2009, in his 10th game, Wood fractured histibia andfibula in the fourth quarter of an 18–15 loss to theJacksonville Jaguars,[12] after Jaguarsdefensive tackleMontavious Stanley ran into Wood's leg.[13] Wood underwent season-ending surgery in a Jacksonville hospital and did not return to Buffalo with the team. He was placed on the injured reserve list on November 24, 2009.
On March 30, 2010, Wood told the Buffalo Bills that his leg was healing well and that he gave it an 80% chance to be ready for training camp.[14] He eventually started 14 games in the2010 NFL season, missing onlySteelers andVikings games because of an ankle injury.[15] The Bills were playing the same trio up the middle: Wood at right guard, Hangartner at center, and Levitre at left guard.[16]
In 2011, Wood was switched to center, between Levitre and new starting right guardKraig Urbik.[17] These three have been instrumental in the resurgence in the Bills offense, led byRyan Fitzpatrick atquarterback andFred Jackson atrunning back. However, he was hurt in game 9 and did not play the rest of the year, replaced first by Urbik and then byColin Brown.
In 2015, the NFL announced Wood as one of the 32 players honored as the Bills'Man of the Year and eligible to win theWalter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award.[18]
It was reported that Wood suffered a broken leg playing in a game against theSeattle Seahawks on November 7, 2016. The Bills reported that this injury would keep Wood out for the remainder of the season.[19] He was placed on injured reserve on November 14, 2016.[20]
On August 26, 2017, Wood signed a two-year, $16 million contract extension with the Bills.[21]
On January 26, 2018, after the Bills made their first playoff appearance since1999, Wood announced that he had failed his end-of-season physical and would no longer be cleared to play professional football.[22]Adam Schefter ofESPN said the cause of the failed physical, a neck injury, was partially due to wear and tear, but also part of a "complicated medical situation" (Wood later specified that the disc between his second and third vertebrae had come dangerously close to his spinal cord, which he suspected happened during the week 6 game of the 2017 season).[23] Wood had played through the entire 2017 season, handling every offensive snap that year without missing any.[1] He had intended to wait until after the2018 Pro Bowl to announce the injury; he had been designated as an alternate to the game and did not consider his condition to be a hindrance to playing in the game. News of the injury had leaked to the press two days before the game, and the two Pro Bowlers named to the position for the AFC both played in the game.[24] He reached an injury settlement with the Bills on May 31, 2018, and was officially released.[25]
In September 2018, Wood signed on as a columnist forThe Athletic.[26] He replacedMark Kelso as color commentator on theBuffalo Bills Radio Network in 2019.[27] Wood opted out of the 2020 season due to travel difficulties associated with the coronavirus pandemic, but returned in 2021.[28] Wood currently hosts theCentered on Buffalo podcast[29]
Wood was named a community ambassador for theLouisville Kings of theUnited Football League in 2025 upon the team's launch.[30]
Wood is aChristian.[31] He is married to Leslie Wood. They have one daughter and one son together.[32]
Wood created The Evan Wood Fund forJohn R. Oishei Children's Hospital. The fund is named after his brother Evan Wood who had cerebral palsy and died when he was 11 years old.[33][32]
Wood is a board member for Kids Cancer Alliance.[32]
Wood was inducted into the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020.
