Charles Woodson may have played his last down as a member of the Green Bay Packers.
Woodson has had an illustrious NFL career up to this point. After winning the Heisman Trophy and being drafted No. 4 overall in the 1998 NFL Draft, Woodson spent seven seasons in Oakland before signing with the Packers.
The Packers and Woodson agreed to a seven-year, $52-million contract on April 26, 2006.
After the best season of his professional career in which he recorded nine interceptions and three touchdowns, Woodson was named the AP Defensive Player of the Year in 2009.
But Woodson has been on the decline athletically the past few seasons, and he missed nine games in 2012 due to a broken collarbone. Per Ian Rapaport of NFL Network, the team is now prepared to cut ties with the 36-year-old defensive back.
Carl Poston, Charles Woodson’s agent, tells me: “They’re getting ready to release him. It’s part of the business.”
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 15, 2013
According to Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal- Sentinel, “Woodson was due a base salary of $6.5 million with a roster bonus of $2.5 million the first day of training camp” in 2013.
Prior to breaking his collarbone against the St. Louis Rams, Woodson was used as a hybrid safety/cornerback. With Woodson out of the lineup, rookie Jerron McMillian and second-year player M.D. Jennings filled Woodson’s duties at safety. Rookie Casey Hayward took over as the team’s slot cornerback, emerging as a key playmaker on Green Bay’s defense.
It’s unknown as to whether or not Woodson refused to take a pay cut, or if the Packers simply decided to sever ties with the veteran.
By the time Woodson returned to the lineup, Hayward had a firm hold on the team’s slot cornerback position. Hayward figures to have an expanded role with the defense next season. The team could be in the market for another young safety to compete with McMillian and Jennings for playing time.
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Marques is a Journalism student, serving as the Sports Editor of UW-Green Bay\'s campus newspaper The Fourth Estate and a Packers writer at Jersey Al\'s AllGBP.com. Follow Marques on Twitter @MJEversoll.
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I’m sad to see him go, but it’s getting to be the right time to let him go. It’s a tough business. 🙁
Not a surprising nor disappointing move. I think most fans will celebrate his greatness while at the same time understand that he’s not what he used to be.
I always liked him. I hope he gets at least 9 million in Miami where there isn’t state taxes. He deserves it as WOODSON is the greatest.
Charles Woodson you are the man.
TT we understand. Time for Richardson or a new body from the draft.
Great player! Kinda hope he retires. We as fans really appropriated his play and his greatness. Hope he appropriate the Packers giving him a chance to restart his career and turn himself into a HOFer!
Anyone know ih he has most defensive TD record?
I think that’s ROD woodson’s, still.
Jarius BYRD!
I would love to see a Safety drafted instead of a FA. Vaccaro Reid and Thomas are best fits IMO.
Good Luck Charles. The “Cap” strikes again. Freeing up the approximatley $10 mil was the decision maker. Don’t think we’ll be seeing many DD’s anymore.
Is it the cap, or is it the fact that he has lost 2 or 3 steps, the reason for his release? My guess is the loss of speed. Otherwise they might have been able to change his contract, so it wouldn’t be such a hit to the cap.
Thanks for everything Charles. Once he bought into the packers about midway through his first year witht he Packers everyone else bought in too. At his peak the best defensive player in the league. He did it all for the Packers. Please just stay out of the division if you want to keep playing.
Charles said he wants to go to a team that can win a championship next year. In my opinion, that excludes everyone in the NFC North except the Pack.
Sad to see, C-dub has had some great years, but Father Time chalks up another win.
This team needs leadership and they just lost one of the best they had. I get that its part of the business, but I think it sets the defense back and makes the Nick Collins loss that much harder to overcome. I hope we don’t live to regret this. I am surprised they didn’t renegotiate.
Goodbye Chuck! And thank you for all the great moments you gave us!
Just saw on the ESPN ticker that it official. Woodson released. Thanks for helping the Pack win a SB!
sorry to see he was released. I think he has a least 1 season left where he could benefit the Packers D. so who is going to fill the void with experience/knowledge/toughness in the Packers D secondary?
bad move IMO.
Charles thank you for everything you did for the Packers organization. You’ve been a awesome leader and player for the Green Bay Packers. As much as I hate to see you leave, I truly understand. 10 million for a safety that will be 37 at the start of next season is a bit steep. Good luck in the next phase of your life. Hell, just retire and come back to coach in the Packers organization.
Thanks for the wonderful efforts every down, Charles. Great Packers.
Now a point of reality… I cornerback who is 37 is not going to get big money in the NFL. I do not care how many intangibles he brings. His best move is to retire and not make a fool out of herself. You do not have the speed to play cornerback or the size to play safety.
Thank you “Wood”! Thank you for all those big plays, the sacks, the picks, the pick-sixes, and the leadership you brought to the young guys over the past few years! As a Packer fan living in the SF Bay Area it was great to see you turn your career around in Green Bay, I will always consider you one of the true Packer greats of this era and in general. Good luck to you in whatever the future holds. I will be cheering wildly when you slip on that Gold HOF Jacket, and hopefully your bust will sport the Green and Gold.
Hopefully you’ll be like D.D. and retire a Packer. You have a HALL OF FAME resume and I hope you’ll be wearing Packer green and gold in Canton.
I didn’t see the broken collarbone as much a problem as many others–face it, Woodson wears SMALL shoulder pads that likely added to potential of the injury. Packers should’ve attempted to restructure and keep him one more season for leadership and tutoring a young secondary. I promise you–Woodson’s a FAR BETTER tackler than Tramon “Chicken” Williams–who will run over his own shadow to keep from making a tackle on any RB or TE coming his way. C’MON Thompson–get Woodson a restructured, cheap contract for one more season–I don’t think Woodson will draw big demand at his $10 MILLION GB price-offer the hometown discount.