MintBaconDrivel
4 years ago

GREEN BAY – Charles Woodson called playing for the Packers a "beautiful transition" in his career, but it sure didn't start out that way.

Speaking with the media virtually on Wednesday, three and a half weeks before his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction, Woodson mused for a bit about what his seven years in Green Bay meant.

At first, it was almost literally the last place he wanted to go, but the Packers were the only team calling with a legitimate free-agent offer for the veteran cornerback. He was anticipating a college-like recruiting saga, or perhaps a bidding war, after eight years with the Raiders, but neither materialized.

"Of course my thought is I'm going to have people crawling over each other trying to get to me," he said. "I thought I was that type of player, (but) I really didn't have anybody checking for me, and that stung a little bit."

Combined with hearing from other Black players the notion the city wasn't a preferred destination for their non-football life, it all put Woodson in a poor frame of mind. He didn't want to answer the call from Green Bay, but he realistically had no other choice.

"It just got to a point where the writing was on the wall, where if you wanted to play, you're probably going to have to go to Green Bay," he said.

"So when I got there, I just had that reluctance in my heart and in my spirit, and I just couldn't believe I was in Green Bay. It made me combative off the bat, with really kind of everybody."

The difficulties with the transition are an afterthought now after Woodson won the Defensive Player of the Year in 2009, became a Super Bowl champion the following year, and plastered his name all over the team record book.

Aside from his prodigious talents, it all came together thanks to those in his new orbit he began to trust back then. Woodson credited former Packers linebacker George Koonce, the team's director of player development at the time, with introducing him to the community and settling him emotionally.

It took only until his sixth game with the Packers to record the first of a team-record nine interceptions returned for a touchdown (and 10 defensive TDs overall), and it helped that he couldn't have asked for a better group of secondary mates to hang with every day.

"Once I started playing, got into a few games, and started getting my hands on the ball, things kind of settled down for me," he said. "I just think the football guys I had around me, Al Harris, Nick Collins, Tramon (Williams), and these guys, they made it work for me.

"I just felt we had a great group and through time I was able to work through that thing. I'm here, I'm making plays, you're going to be all right. It got to a peaceful point to where I thought I was going to retire there."

That didn't happen as Woodson was let go following the 2012 season, when he returned to the Raiders to finish what became an 18-year Hall of Fame career.

In Green Bay, the 2009-10 seasons were his peak, as he became the leader, as well as the heart and soul, of not only defensive coordinator Dom Capers' unit but the entire locker room. He ended that two-year stretch carrying the Lombardi Trophy off the field in Dallas with one arm in a sling from his broken collarbone in the first half of Super Bowl XLV.

Upon taking over Green Bay's defense in 2009, Capers featured Woodson in a playmaking role that could have him covering the opposition's top receiver one minute and blitzing from the slot the next. That dynamism was on display no better than on Thanksgiving Day in 2009 at Ford Field in Detroit, when he emerged as the front-runner for Defensive Player of the Year.

Against the division rival Lions, Woodson split time covering all-world receiver Calvin Johnson and making rookie QB and No. 1 overall draft pick Matthew Stafford's holiday miserable. He capped the Packers' 34-12 blowout win by returning an interception for a touchdown and striking the Heisman Trophy pose in the end zone – in front of many of the same fans who cheered him winning the Heisman at the University of Michigan a dozen years earlier.

"I ended up with 10 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, a touchdown, and uh, probably something else, I'm not sure," he said, perhaps not remembering he picked off not one but two passes that day. "That kind of epitomized what I was as a football player. That particular game right there, it defines me as a football player and what I could do on that field."

Off the field, his time in Green Bay was highlighted by finding a wife and seeing two sons born, all of whom saw one of the game's ultimate warriors get emotional when he was informed in February he'd been chosen as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Waiting for those other free-agent calls that didn't come, Woodson never would've thought he'd get married and start a family in Green Bay, let alone take his game to another level there. It's all another aspect to his personal evolution in a place he initially never wanted to be, and now will never forget.

"That was really a time in my life when I was growing as a person," Woodson said. "There was a transition that happened there that was a beautiful transition, if you will, so that time was very special."

https://www.packers.com/news/charles-woodson-s-time-with-packers-took-his-game-and-his-life-to-a-better-place 

Mike Spofford wrote:



Good read.
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Cheesey
4 years ago
Would have been nice if he had gone into the hall as a Packer and not as a Raider.
After all, he got his Super Bowl ring here, and was chosen by the Packers when no one else even wanted him.
But I’m happy for him.
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Zero2Cool
4 years ago

Would have been nice if he had gone into the hall as a Packer and not as a Raider.
After all, he got his Super Bowl ring here, and was chosen by the Packers when no one else even wanted him.
But I’m happy for him.

Originally Posted by: Cheesey 



I don't think NFL has players go in by team, but just a player. I think MLB does the team thing.
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Cheesey
4 years ago

I don't think NFL has players go in by team, but just a player. I think MLB does the team thing.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 



I think they do.
Have you seen the TV commercial about the guys going into the hall? It shows Woodson with a T-shirt with the HOF on it, and it’s black with “Raiders” under it.
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dyeah_gb
4 years ago
Would have been interesting to hear more about Woodson acclimating to life in "small town" Green Bay but maybe that has already been covered in other articles. Green Bay is notorious for not having the social opportunities that other big city teams provide but this weakness may actually be its biggest strengths for young adults needing a healthy mental environment to grow.

Living in the city makes you crazy 

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool - R. Feynman
Zero2Cool
4 years ago

I think they do.
Have you seen the TV commercial about the guys going into the hall? It shows Woodson with a T-shirt with the HOF on it, and it’s black with “Raiders” under it.

Originally Posted by: Cheesey 



I caught that too. I was thinking who resurrected your career and got you the only Super Bowl win bubba!!
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wpr (28-Aug) : Me do-ed it gooderly,
Zero2Cool (28-Aug) : Bahah, I was like WTF why isn't anyone posting on PP.com ... oops no one has permissions
dfosterf (27-Aug) : tell her I reckon
dfosterf (27-Aug) : Micah Robinson cut. Probable PS player tomorrow. Has to call mom back and t
Zero2Cool (27-Aug) : New site so much better. Might make switch and deal with it.
dfosterf (27-Aug) : Mecole Hardman to our practice squad
dfosterf (27-Aug) : Nick Nieman from Texans our 5th linebacker. Special teams signing
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : Looks like we signed Clayton Tune as QB3
wpr (27-Aug) : TKT people lose their minds over QB3. Point is almost none of them are ready that's why they are on the PS and other teams don't take them.
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : Unfortunately he doesn't seem ready to be an emergency QB.
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : As a Canadian and a follower of Canadian University football. I am rooting for him
dfosterf (27-Aug) : I bet a lot of us will follow the Taylor Elgersma journey with interest. Personally, got a Kurt Warner vibe goin' on. I like him
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : Not sure if either will be claimed though.
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : Tune or Hooker would make sense
dfosterf (27-Aug) : Clayton Tune cut by the Cards? Don't know if that's the guy, we shall see
TheKanataThrilla (27-Aug) : Per Bill Huber, the Packers will not be bringing back Taylor Elgersma or Sean Clifford on the practice squad, so a new third quarterback
Mucky Tundra (27-Aug) : Schefter must have deleted his tweet
dfosterf (27-Aug) : Hopefully Jerry reaches under the seat cushions and ashtrays of his jet and scrapes up the 45 million apr and spares us further nonsense
dfosterf (27-Aug) : Have to admit the PO'd Cowboy fan videos would be fun to watch. Problem with draft picks is half their fanbase barely knows what that is
beast (27-Aug) : I think Cowboys fans are ready to get their pitch forks and burning sticks if Jerry were to trade Micah
dfosterf (27-Aug) : If Jerry traded Micah to GB, here in northern Va. they would have to quick build yet another data center to handle the internet hate traffic
Zero2Cool (27-Aug) : its signing and trades that you don't hear about, other then announced
Zero2Cool (27-Aug) : If you hear rumors about Packers sign or trade, won't happen. Not how they work
dfosterf (27-Aug) : 19 players in a contract year. Jones called loss to us worst loss in Cowboy history. Forget Parsons trade. Not happenin' Cap'n
packerfanoutwest (27-Aug) : The Packers, meanwhile, are the youngest team in the league for the third consecutive year.
dfosterf (27-Aug) : That it was darkest before the dawn in Bengals and Commanders before they got deals done
Zero2Cool (27-Aug) : what is Schefter saying?
dfosterf (27-Aug) : He was getting Dorito infusion therapy
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