Oakland Raiders safety Charles Woodson has put together an illustrious NFL career that includes eight Pro Bowl selections, seven All Pro teams, one AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year aware, one AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award and the distinction of being the only player to amass at least 50 interceptions and 20 sacks during his professional tenure. In short, Woodson has been one of the best safeties the league has seen over his decade and a half-plus as an active member of the NFL. It's no surprise then that NFL.com's senior analyst Gil Brandt believes that Woodson is among the small handful of current NFL players who are "locks" to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio after their playing days are over.
"To spend 17 years in this league and still be playing like a five-year veteran is amazing," writes Brandt. "Woodson seems to have a sixth sense for success in the secondary; he's got a knack for making big plays at opportune times and capitalizing on them. Woodson has 11 career pick-sixes, tied for second-most all time. He also always gets the other defensive backs lined up correctly. What impresses me the most is that he seems to be as excited to play for a Raiders squad coming off a 3-13 season as he was to play for a Super Bowl heavyweight in Green Bay."
Woodson, originally selected by the Raiders with the fourth-overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft, spent the first eight seasons of his NFL career in Oakland before joining the Packers in April 2006 on a seven-year, $52 million deal. During his stint with Green Bay, Woodson managed his Defensive Player of the Year award after a 2009 season which saw him collect 74 tackles, two sacks, four forced fumbles, nine interceptions, 18 passes defensed and three defensive touchdowns.
Woodson returned to the Raiders on a one-year deal in May 2013. While many have assumed each year thereafter that Woodson's professional life was likely drawing to a close, he continues to return year after year and provide quality play for a Raiders team that may now finally be on the cusp of a return to relevancy. After posting 113 tackles, one sack, four interceptions and eight passes defensed for a 3-13 Raiders squad in 2014, he's again set to enter the year with no contract beyond the here and now.
While there's every possibility that this season could ultimately be Woodson's last in an NFL uniform, it wouldn't be surprising at all to see him play well and fend off the Hall of Fame talk for yet another year.
