While in high school, Woodley teamed with former Detroit Lions wide receiver Charles Rogers and former Chicago Bulls point guard Anthony Roberson on Saginaw High School's football team in 1999 to win Michigan's Division II state championship.

[1] Woodley enrolled at the University of Michigan, He predominantly played defensive end and sometimes linebacker, depending on the front seven's alignment.

T-shirts were created by Dave Peabody of the blog Michigan Against the World and sold in Ann Arbor with the slogan, "Guns don't kill people.

He recorded his second sack in three games, against Alex Smith of the San Francisco 49ers, in the fourth quarter of the Steelers' Week 3 37–16 win against the 49ers.

In the 2008 season he was expected to start at the outside linebacker position left vacant when the Steelers let former starter Clark Haggans sign with the Arizona Cardinals.

After defeating the San Diego Chargers 35–24 in the divisional round, they outlasted their division rivals, the Baltimore Ravens, 23–14 to advance to Super Bowl XLIII.

At the end of the 2010 season, Woodley and the Steelers appeared in Super Bowl XLV against the Green Bay Packers.

On December 15, 2013, the Pittsburgh Steelers placed Lamar Woodley on the season ending IR due to a calf injury.

[18] On November 25, 2015, during Week 11's matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals, Woodley suffered a torn pectoral muscle.

[19] Since the start of his NFL career, Woodley has provided considerable amounts of free supplies to students in his hometown of Saginaw.

[20] In January 2012, he donated 100 hooded sweatshirts to the Saginaw High band before its halftime performance at the Sugar Bowl between Michigan and Virginia Tech.