Friday, February 15, 2013
Woodson's next stop
By Tim Kavanagh
Friday morning, the Twitter account for Green Bay Packers DB Charles Woodson's wine label tweeted "Thank you Green Bay it was a great run!" This caused many to speculate that his time with the team was over, and in fact, Woodson's agent Carl Poston confirmed to NFL.com reporter Ian Rapoport that a release by the team was in the process of taking place.
It's not an unexpected development, but a somewhat shocking one nevertheless. Cutting Woodson gives the Packers a significant amount of cap savings, but he was an important cog in the defense in seasons past. And make no mistake: Woodson is not going to walk off into the sunset. "I just talked to him. He sounds like he has a lot of football left," Poston told Rapoport. As far as where he'd like to sign next? "He'd like to go play for a contender, win another Super Bowl. He caught that bug," Poston confirmed.
Of the teams that qualified for the playoffs in 2012, the ones in need of safety help include the Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots and Washington Redskins as of now, and the list could expand to include the Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans and San Francisco 49ers depending upon what happens with William Moore, Ed Reed, Glover Quin and Dashon Goldson, respectively. Woodson is more of a free safety than a strong safety, but he's no slouch at tackling, and could play a versatile role throughout a team's defensive secondary.
ESPN AFC East blogger James Walker considered whether Woodson could land with any of the four teams in that division, and notes that the Patriots have the best shot (though he considers the chances of it happening as merely average):
James Walker
Does Woodson fit in the AFC East?"The Patriots desperately need help at safety. They allowed an NFL-high 74 passing plays of 20 yards or more last season. New England has been mostly linked to Baltimore Ravens' pending free-agent safety Ed Reed. However, Reed will be expensive for the Patriots or any team willing to sign the future Hall of Famer. Woodson could be an interesting second option, especially if he's more affordable than Reed. Patriots coach Bill Belichick is not afraid to sign aging players if they're still smart enough to play. Woodson, 36, certainly fits that description. But money is a big question, as usual. The Patriots need to save cap room to keep in-house free agents like Wes Welker, Sebastian Vollmer, Julian Edelman and Danny Woodhead."
