National Football League

Pro Football 101: Charles Woodson ranks No. 68 on the all-time list

Updated Dec. 1, 2021 5:37 p.m. ET

By Joe Posnanski
Special to FOX Sports

Editor's Note: Throughout the 2021 NFL season, Joe Posnanski will rank the 101 best players in pro football history, in collaboration with FOX Sports. Posnanski will publish a detailed look at all 101 players on Substack. The countdown continues today with player No. 68, Charles Woodson.

Charles Woodson’s position was "playmaker."

I realize that’s one of those football clichés that doesn’t particularly impress anybody — sort of like when someone thinks the ultimate compliment is, "Now that is a football player" — but there’s no way to describe Woodson’s game without saying playmaker. Whether he was at right corner, left corner, free safety, strong safety, receiver, returner, in coverage or on the blitz, Charles Woodson was always looking to change the game.

Woodson entered the NFL in an entirely different class from any player before him because he was the first predominantly defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy.

Charles Woodson finished his career with 65 interceptions, locking down the opponent's best receiver throughout his career. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

It is true that he probably would not have won the Heisman without his exploits as a returner and a wide receiver at Michigan, but he still broke through in a way that other great college defenders such as Hugh Green, Rich Glover, Brian Bosworth, Steve Emtman and Marvin Jones could not.*

*Before Woodson, those were the only five defensive players who finished in the top four of the Heisman voting in the previous 40 years. Since Woodson, only Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o, who finished second to Johnny Manziel in 2012, came close to winning the award as a defensive player, and even he wasn’t that close.

Woodson was the fourth overall pick in the 1998 draft — the Peyton Manning draft — and he was one of four players in that incredible first round to be elected to the Hall of Fame: Manning, Woodson, Randy Moss and Alan Faneca.

Woodson established himself as a big-play defender with the Raiders right away, picking off five balls his rookie year (one of them a pick-six) and forcing two fumbles. He was first-team All-Pro the next season as he scored his second touchdown.

You might remember that in the AFC divisional playoffs in January 2002, Woodson was the guy who hit Tom Brady and forced the fumble that was later ruled a forward pass on the infamous "tuck play." That was the season Woodson started being used more on the blitz.

The most famous blitz of Woodson's career resulted in an incomplete pass — not a sack and forced fumble. (Photo by MATT CAMPBELL/AFP via Getty Images)

In all, Woodson finished his career with 65 interceptions and 20 sacks, which is an uncommon combination. Nobody else with even 60 interceptions had even 15 sacks. And nobody else with 20 sacks had even 55 interceptions.

Only his namesake Rod Woodson returned more interceptions for touchdowns than Charles’ 11. And Charles added two fumble returns for scores, so the two Woodsons are actually tied for most defensive touchdowns.

It is a funny quirk that two of the most versatile and excellent defensive backs in NFL history were named Woodson. I sometimes wonder if that made Charles a bit underrated.

Woodson revived his career as a hard-hitting safety for Green Bay, winning NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2009. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Charles Woodson was admittedly adrift in the middle of his career from 2002 to 2005. He had trouble staying healthy, he didn’t score any touchdowns, he didn’t make any Pro Bowls, and the Raiders decided to let him go as he turned 30. He seriously considered retirement. He was thoroughly uninterested when Green Bay reached out to sign him. But in the end, he wanted to prove the doubters wrong, and he played for another decade, taking his game to a new level.

In his first five years with the Packers, he played cornerback and was utterly fantastic. In his first season, he intercepted eight passes. In 2009, he was named Defensive Player of the Year after leading the league with nine interceptions, three of them for touchdowns. He led the league in interceptions again in 2011. Then he moved to safety, fully unleashed his blitzing capability, and forced and recovered a bunch of fumbles.

Woodson earned a ring with the Packers in Super Bowl XLV in February 2011. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

It was his ability to do everything that separated him from so many other greats — Woodson was every bit as scary in coverage as he was on the blitz. He was a gambler, willing to give up plays in order to make bigger ones, and he was so good at reading the play and reacting that he got away with it more often than not.

Nobody in the history of pro football tried to jump a route more often than Charles Woodson.

He has the touchdowns to prove it.

Joe Posnanski is a New York Times bestselling author and has been named the best sportswriter in America by five different organizations. His new book, "The Baseball 100," came out Sept. 28.