Don't write Rod Woodson's epitaph just yet

Sporting News, The, March 16, 1998 by Dan Pompei

The 49ers didn't want him back at any price. There were 12 penalties last season. Old ladies can get from here to there faster. Give him a double move, and he will bite like a shark.

He is held together with twist ties and paper clips. He skips practices as frequently as the calorie conscious among us skip dessert.

So why would the Ravens pay a purportedly washed-up Rod Woodson $11.5 million over four years to be a starting cornerback?

Because he can still play. Believe it. Woodson, despite his flaws, easily would have been a starter for 20 teams besides his own last year. He dearly was the best cornerback on football's second-ranked pass defense.

"Offenses didn't attack him," says 49ers secondary coach Jim Mora Jr. "They attacked the other side of the field."

Only one opponent went after Woodson last year and got away with it--the Packers, in the NFC championship game. Almost every other offense either planned to go away from Woodson or ended up throwing to the other side more often than not because Woodson's receiver was covered pretty well. Woodson, who started 14 games, was thrown at 80 times during the regular season, according to research by STATS, Inc. By comparison, Darnell Walker, who started three games fewer than Woodson, was thrown at 71.5 times. The 49ers' coaching staff, conscious of this, sometimes would roll the free safety toward Walker or Marquez Pope, leaving Woodson one-on-one.

Opponents didn't have much success against Woodson when they went his way. Quarterbacks completed 43.1 percent of their passes aimed at Woodson's receiver for a 50.8 passer rating. Only 10 cornerbacks who were thrown at more than 31 times held opponents to a lower completion percentage. Forty-four corners gave up more completions than Woodson, and 42 comers gave up more yards.

Lest you think Woodson's success was solely the result of the players around him, consider this: Quarterbacks completed 51 of their passes aimed at Walker's receiver and had an 83.3 passer rating on passes thrown his way. Plus, Woodson gave up only one touchdown pass all season, on a Play against the Panthers in which he fell down at about the 5-yard fine. Walker gave up six.

This is what Woodson can do as well as almost any cornerback:

Take a big receiver out of the game. Against tall, physical players such as Cris Carter, Jake Reed and Michael Irvin, Woodson is at his best. The 49ers matched him man-to-man against Irvin for almost every snap of their game against the Cowboys. Troy Aikman directed seven of his 36 passes at Irvin while Woodson was covering him, completing five for 46 yards. Irvin beat Woodson deep once late in the game but fell and failed to make the catch. Irvin did score a touchdown in the game, but it wasn't when Woodson was covering him.

Play over the slot receiver in the nickel defense. Woodson is one of the best slot defenders in the league because he's strong, physical and long-armed. That allows him to get a good jam on a slot receiver and take him out of a play. For the same reasons, he's also good in the red zone, where a short field works to a physical corner's advantage. Woodson is at his best when he's close to the action over the slot because he's so aware and instinctive. He's usually one of the first on the field to recognize run or pass.

Blitz. Woodson understands how to get to the passer better than most cornerbacks, and he doesn't mind knocking heads with the big boys. The 49ers; blitzed him as frequently as the Steelers had in previous years, and Mora says he was pleased with the results.

Play the run. Woodson always is looking into the backfield, so he smells run in a hurry and then he takes good angles to get to the ball carrier. He'll sacrifice his body for a yard any day. He can, in scout parlance, bring the lumber to the woodshed.

All that said, it's not difficult to understand why the 49ers wanted to get younger at the position. Woodson probably won't be a very good cornerback much longer. One personnel man says Woodson is 33 "going on 38." Physically, he's a wreck. He missed about 40 practices last year once the regular season began because of an assortment of injuries--knee, back, calf, concussion. Sooner or later, those injuries may start forcing him to miss games.

Woodson is a safety waiting to happen as surely as a hog is bacon waiting to happen. It is part of the Ravens' plan to move him to safety in a year or two. The only question about Woodson playing safety is: Will his body hold up to the extra pounding the position demands?

Because of his age and injuries, Woodson isn't as versatile as some of the league's elite corners. He ran a 4.57 40-yard dash a year ago on a super fast track, and he might be slower than that today. Woodson has more long speed than he does short-area quickness. He can't ran with small, shifty speed receivers, but he makes up for it by slowing down his opponents. He's good at putting his body on a receiver, backing off and minimizing the area where a receiver can make a catch.

His lack of speed helps explain all his penalties last year. Pass interference penalties really weren't a problem. He committed four pass interference infractions for 62 yards. Twelve players in the NFL had more pass interference penalties, and 19 gave up more yards on pass interference penalties. But Woodson also had five holding penalties, and one illegal contact penalty. That's where his lack of speed showed up. Knowing he has no catch-up speed, he holds. But a few holding penalties are a small price to pay.