Nearing the end of his 18th season, Charles Woodson announced on Monday that 2015 would be his final season. With the Raiders eliminated from playoff contention, barring injury, his final game in Oakland will be this Sunday, and final game overall will be 1/3/16 in Kansas City.
He most likely retires in the 5th overall spot for interceptions, with 65 (and an outside chance of catching Night Train Lane, who has 68, and tied for second overall in interceptions returned for touchdowns, one behind Rod Woodson. Barring injury, he will have played in 254 games, and also amassed 18 fumble recoveries, 20 sacks, 155 passes defensed, and at least according to Pro Football Reference, just under 1,000 career tackles.
He has 8 Pro Bowl appearances—four in his first four seasons, then four more consecutively with the Packers from 2008-2011, and three First Team All-Pro selections (and for those that care, he was also a three time 2nd Team All-Pro). He was the 1998 AP Defensive Rookie of the Year, the 2009 AP Defensive Player of the Year, and was on the 1st team for the Pro Football Hall of Fame All-2000s Team.
Frank Schwab of Yahoo! Argues that he is a Hall of Fame lock, and the kind of player that shouldn’t have to wait five years to be tabbed. He has even argued that Woodson is the greatest defensive back of all time. For my money, I’m not even sure that Charles is the best defensive back named Woodson of all time–and I would still put Deion Sanders (and maybe a couple others) ahead of him for pure coverage skills, but as an overall defensive back, he’s certainly in the top tier, and probably top 5 in the last 20 years. I’m not sure he’s a lock for his first ballot, but I don’t think he’ll be waiting long.
But let’s hear it Zoneblitz regulars—is he a first ballot HOFer, given the position change, and the difficulty some DBs have had making the Hall? Is he in your Hall of Good, but not quite Great, due to those years from his injury in 2002 through 2007, before his resurgence in Green Bay?
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I don’t think anyone who is a regular here thinks Charles is Hall of Very Good, not Hall Of Fame. To be the only player with 50 Ints/20 sacks(since 1982, but I would think no one has done even if sacks were kept during the 20s-1981) 5th in Ints, 2nd in returns for TDs, DROY,DPOY, with a SB ring , 4x 1st team AP and 9x PBer and to play 18 seasons is incredible. Definitely HOF worthy. I view him as a first ballot type. Not to the degree of a Brett Favre, Tom Brady. Jim Brown etc but certainly like a Warren Moon.
Charles is one the best Green Bay Packers I ever seen and was the best free agent pick up the Packers did since Reggie White..
Charles is going to be inducted into the hall of fame as a first year or a second year of eligibility depending on is retiring this year although he’s very likely to a first ballot hall of fame player. The reason I mentioned depend on who is retiring after this season because there is a good amount of players that are not getting young or you can say they appear washed like Jared Allen.
Charles has everything that a voter wants in a resume.
Outside of Jared Allen, I think Peyton Manning is going to retire. It he doesn’t retire, it would be like Johnny Unitas as a charger, Brett’s final year as a Vikings, or Joe Namath as a Ram.
Outside of those two, I am not sure who will retire beside Charles Woodson.
Definitely think Woodson gets in the HoF — he’s currently at 4/9/00s, might even add a first team all pro selection. “First ballot” depends on how deep the ballot in general and first-eligible-pool is five years from now.
@Packerfan4ever – Funny you mention Manning… I wrote this yesterday and just published it a few minutes ago: https://www.zoneblitz.com/2015/12/24/peyton-mannings-options-for-2016-limited/
@Brad – I actually agree–I don’t think any regular here believes he would be Hall of Very Good either. And I don’t put him in that category–but figured I need to leave the option there. While I think he’s a surefire HOFer, I don’t know that I think he is a transcendent type player, like a Favre or Manning, that are first ballot locks that should be unanimous ,
I view Charles closer to being the best ever than to Hall of Very Good. That is how much respect I have for him. And Tom Brady is closer to unanimous selection than Brett Favre and Peyton Manning, which both are top 5-10 QBs ever. I put Brady up there with Joe Montana. I like John Elway as the best. Not many people would agree, most for Tom or Joe, but Elway was not the best thrower, but he was a complete QB. He ran pretty well for his position, as well as throwing well for the most part . Kind of like a Ben Roethlisberger. John was an underrated athlete. He was drafted by the Yankees, but chose NFL. And he got Bronco teams with not much help on offense to the SB 3x. I know losses are viewed to some as not much of a deal, but we also give credit to the Bills, who lost 4 in a row, but those teams were loaded. John did not have 1 guy on offense skill position wise that was as good as Turmal and Andre Reed. Anyway, back to original topic.’
Charles is in my book as a potential first ballot HOFer. I agree with Bachslunch, it really depends who is left. Let’s say for argument sake Alan Faneca, Kevin Mawae, Edgerrin James,Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, Torry Holt, Issac Bruce, Hines Ward, John Lynch, Steve Atwater,Ty Law, Ronde Barber,Champ Bailey,Kurt Warner, among others are still on the ballot; I think he would still be able to get in first ballot, but there are an awfully a lot of great names on that list still. Charles Woodson being in 1st or 2nd ballot doesn’t take away from his incredible career. Alan Page wasn’t first ballot and his resume consists of 8/9/70s, with League MVP(along with DPOY). I know Joe Greene was on the ballot as well, but voters have put in 2 of same position in before. Point is, Alan is an all time great D-Linemen and Charles is an all time great D-Back. As for another HOFer( I think as he sits gets in) that is active, is Darrelle Revis on the verge of being a first ballot “lock”?
A year or so ago I had Woodson in my “Surefire Hall of Famer” category on my Top 50 Active Resumes, which would mean he’s definitely going in but definitely not going in first-ballot. To see why, take a look at the first such list I ever made: http://sports.morganwick.com/2012/02/2012-pro-football-hall-of-fame-watch-the-top-50-active-resumes/
I know placing too much stock in that “Top 100 Greatest Players” list the NFL Network did a few years back is a fool’s game, but everyone from Champ Bailey on down didn’t make that list, meaning five players with better resumes than Woodson weren’t considered among the best 100 players in NFL history, and until this year he hasn’t improved his resume since then. 73 players EVER have been inducted on the first ballot outside the inaugural class. Yes, a number of players on the NFL Network list played before the 60s and never got a chance to go in first-ballot and/or were part of that inaugural class, and a number of players that weren’t on the list got in first-ballot and vice versa, but you’re still asking a lot for Woodson to jump into the first-ballot category from where he’s been.
Heck, from a resume standpoint you could argue it was only this year that he even became the greatest defensive back of all time among active players. Even after Bailey and Ed Reed retired a couple years ago, Troy Polamalu’s resume of 4/8/00s was identical to Woodson’s yet was accomplished in a shorter time, and if you value AP All-Pro selections higher than other outlets, Woodson only has three. (If not, though, Woodson has more second-team selections and better career stats.)
That said, Woodson did tack on another Pro Bowl this year, which could vault him into the borderline-first-ballot category (and definitely puts him ahead of Polamalu), certainly if he adds a first-team All-Pro selection on top of that, and that would be more in line with what all of you have been saying. It seems like a long shot, though.
As for Revis? It was only last year I even added him to the Surefire Hall-of-Famer category, and he’s still behind Woodson… but he now sits at 4/7/probably 10s, so if he adds another All-Pro selection (I don’t know if he’s in line for one) he’d also vault Polamalu (at least by the time he got on the ballot) and at the very least be *near* the top of that category, if not borderline first-ballot. But we’re a long ways off from having any active first-ballot locks not named Manning or Brady, though there are a number of players that could get there in the next few years, starting with Aaron Rodgers and Adrian Peterson (assuming Drew Brees is on the downslope of his career).