FSU Football: Lawrence Timmons enters 10th year in NFL with Steelers
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU football has had many talented linebackers to come through its program. One player some fans may have forgotten is Lawrence Timmons.
Lawrence Timmons came to FSU football in the 2004 as a four-star recruit and is ranked No. 80 on the ‘Noles All-Time Recruits list by 247 Sports.
Timmons was an All-American and All-ACC first teamer in 2006, his final year with FSU football.
Incredibly, he played at FSU while top five linebacker and the highest rated FSU football recruit of all time Ernie Sims was there.
He finished his career with the ‘Noles after the 2006 season and was a first round draft pick and the No. 15 overall pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2007 NFL Draft.
The proper word for Timmons and his NFL career thus far is “consistency”. Timmons played in a reserve capacity his first two seasons, but helped lead the Steelers to a Super Bowl win over the Arizona Cardinals in his first year as a starter.
Timmons has only missed one possible start since the 2010 season and was a Pro Bowl selection in 2014.
He has averaged 118.5 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 5 passes defended and an interception over the past six years in the NFL.
For comparison sake, let’s compare Timmons with 2015 All-Pro linebacker Thomas Davis of the Carolina Panthers:
- Timmons (2015 stats): 119 tackles, five sacks, six passes defended, one interception and one fumble forced.
- Davis (2015 stats): 105 tackles, 5.5 sacks, seven passes defended, four interceptions and four fumbles forced.
Davis is considered one of the best linebackers in the game alongside teammate Luke Kuechly, but has had to deal with multitudes of injuries throughout his career.
The durability of Timmons has been incredible when you look at the position he plays and his production over the years.
Timmons turned 30 years old this month and has a year or two left of playing at a considerable high level. There were time that Timmons was grading out poorly, but it was more so due to defensive schematic problems than the play of Timmons falling off.
The Steelers have the third best betting odds of winning the Super Bowl in 2017. If they make it that far, Timmons will surely be a big part of a defense that seems to be re-tooled this season.
Next: Top 5 Linebackers In FSU History
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