Because he was so good, because he was not only Canadian but a homegrown product and because he was going to help their marketing efforts, Woodcock was rewarded accordingly.
At a salary of more than $100,000, he is among the top 15-paid players in the CFL. And with 25 catches for 284 yards and one touchdown, he is nowhere among the league leaders.
No, he is actually the fourth most productive receiver on his team.
"Sure, I'm frustrated," said Woodcock. "It's all frustrating. I'm not used to losing games. That's the hard part. We're not playing well as an entire offence, and I feel I'm not contributing. I finish a game and a lot of times, I feel I didn't make a contribution."
He wasn't expecting to be the go-to guy -- even though he should have been, with what they had at receiver and how he was hyped. But he wasn't expecting to be ignored, either.
In the game before Hamilton's visit, in B.C., he only had one catch.
"No, I don't," Woodcock said when asked if he knew why he's not seeing more balls. "It's not a conscious thing. But I don't have an explanation. There are probably a lot of factors. I just don't know what they are.
"I feel like I'm getting open, but I don't know what they see back there. I've never done that job, I've never been a quarterback or coach. I feel I'm doing the things I've always done, but I don't make those decisions."
The Renegades have talked about how Woodcock has drawn coverage as a decoy. As a threat, he creates room for other receivers. But please, they still have to be getting him the ball more than an average of 2.77 times per game.
"When you run 13 plays in a half, nobody is going to get opportunities," said Ottawa coach Joe Paopao, referring to the abysmal Hamilton game.
Paopao has even shifted Woodcock from short-side wideout to wide-side slot, but while it seems like the right way to go, the plan didn't produce results.
"We tried to move him around, but he never got going," said Paopao. "Early in the game, we tried to throw to him on a corner route, but they walled him off."
And so they basically didn't look his way again.
Paopao has nothing but praise for Woodcock. He loves the attitude No. 16 brings. Renegades players speak highly of him, too. One of the most spectacular plays they've seen this season was Woodcock's leaping TD catch against Edmonton on July 2.
The rest of his noteworthy tape as a Renegade would be far less flattering. He fumbled the ball away on an early play in the July 9 loss to Montreal, the first of what would be a three-game losing streak. A week later, he fumbled on the opening drive, deep in enemy territory. The Renegades never again threatened to score, losing 29-1 to the Bombers on a night they also lost QB Kerry Joseph to a foot injury for a month.
In that game, Woodcock also was on the receiving end of what may be the CFL hit of the season -- a tremendous, over-the-middle pop by Bombers linebacker Terry Ray that made Woodcock vomit. He returned to the game, but looked like he was as rattled as you'd expect him to be.
While they need to involve him in the offence more, the failures to meet expectations in this case shouldn't all be on the 'Gades, either.
Woodcock's average of 11.4 yards a catch is one of the lowest on the team. And his longest gain off a reception is 36 yards. Jason Armstead (83), Yo Murphy (74), Demetris Bendross (71) and Josh Ranek (47) all outweigh him on that scale, too.
Is Woodcock having second thoughts about signing here?
"There's no point in doing that, you can't go and change things," he said. "I'm having a great time being back in Ottawa. Hopefully, this is just a small bump in the road."
