Farrior Bulking Up for 2009

When Steelers rookie Jack Lambert stepped into the league in 1974 as a 208 pound middle linebacker, the thought was he was too small to do the job. He quickly proved everyone wrong.

But that was back in the days when a lot of linemen weighed 240-260 pounds and they weren't allowed to use their hands. It's even more baffling to explain how James Farrior managed to succeed as an inside linebacker last year despite weighing as little as 218 pounds. That's just 10 more pounds than safety Troy Polamalu.

Farrior has said that he'll come into camp a little heavier this year with plans that he'll end up somewhere around 225 or so when the season begins. And he'll probably be quite effective at that weight, which will still make him one of the lightest linebackers in the league. But it's just a reminder of how important Casey Hampton and the rest of the defensive line is to the Steelers' success--they eat up the blockers so Farrior doesn't have to. Farrior can play at 218 or 225 because he gets the chance to flow to the ball without having to shed too many blockers. If not for the defensive line, Farrior would find that giving up 100 pounds to most offensive guards would leave him too vulnerable to being driven off the ball when he tries to fill the hole.

Instead he gets a lot of clear paths to the running back, which makes him an extremely effective inside linebacker. And at such a light weight, he's also quick enough to excel in pass coverage. There's a lot of talk of how the Steelers' defense is so good because it's unselfish, but there may be no better example of how it all works together than its 218-pound leader at linebacker.