Charles Woodson, Heisman Winner to NFL Hall of Fame. A Super Bowl Champ playing 18 years for Raiders and Packers, strength from being raised by a single mother, & his thoughts on Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan football controversy.

FOLLOW THE PIVOT PODCAST: MERCH | https://pivotpodcast.com YOUTUBE | https://www.youtube.com/thepivotpodcast INSTAGRAM | https://instagram.com/thepivot TWITTER | https://twitter.com/thepivot TIKTOK | https://tiktok.com/@thepivot FACEBOOK | https://www.facebook.com/thepivotpodcast Don’t miss out on all the action this week at DraftKings! Download the DraftKings app today! Sign-up using https://dkng.co/pivot or through our promo code: Defense One of football’s most decorated players at the professional and collegiate levels, Woodson played 18 seasons in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers, racking up a list of accolades including Super Bowl XLV champion, 2009 Defensive Player of the Year, 1998 Defensive Rookie of the Year and the 2015 Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021, his first year on the ballot, and enshrined in Canton that August. Ryan starts the conversation off by quoting Charles on an important message that he shared during his Hall of Fame speech, and asking the significance of the line, "They say a woman can’t raise a man, I call bullcrap, because my mom raised two men." Charles shares why it was important for him to put that message out to the world and let him serve as proof that strong men can be raised in single mother households and talks about his own experience of being raised by his mother and how his work ethic and his will to never give up is all from watching his mom and the values she instilled in him. As hard as the NFL is and as many ups and downs, injuries, bad days and the days that make you want to walk away, Charles always remained grounded by his mother's efforts and life approach which he used to sustain his own success. Channing doesn't miss a moment in poking a little fun at Charles' singing comparing him to Demarcus Ware's recent performance, as Charles chose to sing a tribute for his mother at his Hall of Fame induction which gives the guys some material for a fun conversation. Prior to his professional career, Woodson was a two-time All-American at Michigan and led the Wolverines to an undefeated season and national championship in 1997, the same year he became the only individual to win the Heisman Trophy while playing on both sides of the ball. Fred asks about playing with Tom Brady during those years at college and what type of player he was then and the difference in Brady during the early years vs becoming one of the best to ever play in the NFL. With all the surrounding controversy around Michigan football today, Woodson remains loyal to the program and doesn't find any foul play with the information he is aware of that's gone on. Woodson goes on to talk about his own NFL career and later on playing against his college teammate sharing how a day doesn't go by where someone doesn't ask him about the infamous loss to Brady in the 2002 postseason, where Charles sacked Tom who fumbled to seal the win for the Raiders yet, it was overturned due to the "Tuck rule" and the Patriots went onto win. A moment that haunted Woodson for years which is why winning the Super Bowl with Green Bay Packers meant so much to him later on in his NFL tenure. Talking about how some of the greatest cornerbacks are often compared to Woodson, he reiterates how and why people view him as one of the greatest defensive players to step on the field with no argument on this from Ryan, Fred or Channing as they reiterate Woodson's achievements and go on to say that he himself often looks back at some of the things he did, and can't believe he did it either. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:30Ryan Clark?

  You used the treadmill throughout your career. Like, I never liked treadmills. And so like, even when I tried to get into it, because we had a Peloton one, even when I tried to get into it, man. And so it was just better for me to.

• 0:40Fred Taylor?

  Get on that bike, yeah. I stand up, sometimes just put it on high resistant, like 100, and stand up for 20 minutes. It serves like a, uh, Stomast. You get off with them rubber legs off that.

• 0:53Fred Taylor?

  But it's like a, you get your leg day in too. No, you get in, but you get out, you be like this. Especially at this age.

• 1:00Channing Crowder?

  What about the dude that, that sent a picture of him sweating with no shirt on after he worked out to the group thread? Who do that for?

• 1:07Ryan Clark?

  Taco meat, everything, see what?

• 1:09Fred Taylor?

  Hey, fella, hey, fella, just got that in.

• 1:12Ryan Clark?

  Get out of here, nobody want to see this. With the shirt tied around his head, though.

• 1:16Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, one, just got that work in. Another one coming soon. I shaved and everything, just for y'all, boys.

• 1:23Channing Crowder?

  I don't see nothing that you have.

• 1:24Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, y'all can repost it.

• 1:25Channing Crowder?

  No.

• 1:26Fred Taylor?

  Don't repost it.

• 1:27Ryan Clark?

  No, I'm not gonna repost that.

• 1:53Ryan Clark?

  C. Wood, man, welcome to the show.

• 1:55Speaker 04

  Yeah, man.

• 1:55Ryan Clark?

  Charles Woodson, pro football, Hall of Famer, Heisman Trophy winner, which I think is probably even crazier to think about the visual of you with Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf.

• 2:08Speaker 04

  Randy.

• 2:09Ryan Clark?

  Randy.

• 2:10Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 2:10Ryan Clark?

  That's when Randy had the sunglasses on too.

• 2:12Speaker 04

  Randy was sitting right here, man. Randy was the one that shook me out of it. Like, man, get up. Damn. You know, I'm sitting there, you know, they said my name and I'm kind of, I'm in shock because, dude, I wasn't, I wasn't winning the Heisman Trophy. Like, that wasn't happening. You know what I'm saying? This was all about Peyton Manning. This was all about Peyton coming back for his last year. He was doing this for the university, doing it to win the Heisman, and that's all you heard about. The whole season, Peyton, Peyton, Peyton, Peyton. And I had my little spots here and there, and then towards the end of the season, one-hand catch, and then Penn State came around, then Ohio State came around. I mean, in my mind, I'm the baddest dude out there, but they ain't

• 2:54Speaker 04

  giving it to a dude who played defense. This ain't happening. So, like I said, Randy was sitting over there with the shades. My man, I think it was Rudy Riska, he was like, from Michigan.

• 3:12Speaker 04

  They called your boy name?

• 3:14Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 3:15Speaker 04

  Bruh. Like, that was crazy. You know what I mean? That was, that was, that was a real moment, yo.

• 3:21Ryan Clark?

  But C. Wood, even before that, though, to get to that point, you talked about transferring to U M.

• 3:30Ryan Clark?

  When you think about transferring one year and you end up winning the Heisman the next, but why would you leave U M if you're a kid from Fremont, Ohio? That chooses to go to Michigan. Yeah, but then now you're at the school, you're a, you know, freshman of the year, you were Parade All-American as a second-year player, you eventually win the Heisman. What happened during that time at U M that had you thinking about transferring?

• 3:59Speaker 04

  Man, just a young, basically a kid in his feelings. And I've told the story, but it's crazy because one day, I came down to the facilities and, I don't know, my back locked up. I don't know why, just my back locked up. So I go into the training room and I tell our head equipment manager, I'm like, man, something's wrong with my back, man. I can barely walk. He's like, oh, Charles, don't worry about it. You know what I'm saying? You're good. You know, you just sit to, sit to practice out. You know, you're good. I'm like, cool. So, practice is about to start. When I, I go into the locker room, I keep my, my, the clothes I wore to class on. So, he hadn't told the coach that I wasn't practicing. So, I'm walking out, I got my stuff on.

• 4:43Speaker 04

  Coach like, man, what you, what you got on? I was like, my, my clothes. I ain't practicing today. What you mean you ain't practicing today? I was like, man, I, I talked to Smitty. He said, I'm good.

• 4:59Speaker 04

  He don't know what to say. Well, get back in there and put your, put your uniform on. So, I'm like, alright, you know, cool. I go back in, change, put the clothes back on, or my, my, my uniform on. But I keep my school shoes on.

• 5:16Speaker 04

  So, I, I get out there and he looked at me again.

• 5:22Speaker 04

  Where's your cleats? I'm like, coach, I ain't practicing. You get back in there and you put your cleats on. So, I'm like, ah, man, it's gonna be one of them, it's one of them days. So, I go back in, put my cleats on, come out to practice, so practice is going on. And then, all of a sudden, I'm standing there, the, the office is running a play. I got one of my teammates here and we kind of, we talking back and forth, but we, we really talking about what's going on on the field.

• 5:49Speaker 04

  Hey, Woods, get over here. He's behind the office. I'm like, hey, what does, what do you want? Walk over there. Hey, if you're not gonna be practicing, you need to pay attention to what's going on. I said, coach, we, we were talking about the, the play. You pay attention. I'm like, alright, I walk back over there. So, practice is going on, same thing, me and my man, we talking. Now, we probably laughing a little, ki, ki, kiing.

• 6:12Speaker 04

  Charles, get over here. I'm like, get out.

• 6:16Speaker 04

  What is going on? So, I walk over there. If you're not gonna pay attention in practice, then you can just leave.

• 6:23Speaker 04

  I said, alright. I mosey my little ass off the field and kept walking. Everybody was looking like, damn, what y'all doing? I walked in, I changed clothes, I went to my dorm.

• 6:38Speaker 04

  Mom, I'm leaving. I don't want to be here no more. She like, what? She like, what are you talking about? I'm like, yeah, I'm out of here, man. Me and the coach, man, we ain't seeing eye to eye, man. I don't want to be here no more. So my mind was, you know, I had visited Miami. I'm like, I got all this worked up in my mind. I had a couple of guys on my team that visited Miami too. I'm like, man, at the practice, they're like, what's up, man? I'm like, no, man, I'm leaving, going to Miami. We going too.

• 7:03Speaker 04

  You got a mutiny start. Yeah, I'm going too, man. So that thing, and that was right before, that's the week of the Ohio State game. And so then my DB coach, Vance Bedford, calls me down to the office. He says, hey, Coach Carr wants to meet with you. I'm like, man, I ain't talking to dude, man. Forget it, bruh. He's like, no, just come on down, man. He want to talk to you. I'm sorry. I went down to the office. He's like, now, listen. This is what I want you to do. I want you to go down to his office. I want you to just shake your head, yes. Apologize, come back, and you'll be playing this week against Ohio State. I was like, all right, man, I ain't apologizing. But all right, I go down there.

• 7:47Speaker 04

  I go down there, go in the coach's office. He's like, hey, do you think you justified yourself by leaving practice? I'm like, yeah, I think I justified myself. I said, man, you ain't got to do me like that. You know what I'm saying? You know what you're going to get out of me. He's like, all right, well, you ain't playing this week.

• 8:01Speaker 04

  I said, hey, okay. I got up. I walked out. Walked in the Vance Bedford's office. Ben said, what'd he say? I said, man, he said, I ain't playing this week. Boy, I told you, don't go down there and say nothing. I told you to just nod your head, right? So as soon as he said that, he picked up the phone. Got on the phone, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. He calls home. Now, I don't know what day this was, but my mom worked a lot. He just happened to catch my mom at home. I don't know why she's not at work.

• 8:34Speaker 04

  Ms. Woodson, I told him, don't say nothing. He went down there. He's not playing this week. You talk to him. And so my mom's like, what's going on? I'm like, man, coach tripping, talking about this and that. I ain't apologizing. And she said, all right, well, if you're not going to apologize for yourself, do it for me. I said, damn. So man, I gotta walk back down there and uh, coaching on my bad, he's like alright, okay. So I end up playing that week, but that was a, that was a whole story.

• 9:06Channing Crowder?

  What was ahead is time. Nowadays them players, you know, they just like that. Like they got a ten to them players.

• 9:12Speaker 04

  Yeah, but now they can leave. I could have left next day now.

• 9:19Fred Taylor?

  Any of that, I'm trying to figure out the timing of that David Boston ass whipping. Was that frustration from you giving?

• 9:25Speaker 04

  No, that was the next year.

• 9:26Fred Taylor?

  So that was the next year?

• 9:28Speaker 04

  Yeah, so that year we went to the shoe. We went to Ohio State. But the David, the Boston fight was the next year.

• 9:34Fred Taylor?

  Which was crazy, but you know, I went to uh.

• 9:36Ryan Clark?

  David Boston was big as hell.

• 9:38Fred Taylor?

  What?

• 9:39Speaker 04

  You should have saw him walk out of that tunnel. You should have saw him walk out of that tunnel. Cause uh, you know, I'mma match him up, right?

• 9:47Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 9:48Speaker 04

  So we all sitting there, we warming up. He don't have no sleeves, no gloves. He must have put some Vaseline on. The man came walking out that tunnel. My dude was like, you gotta guard that motherfucker today.

• 10:01Fred Taylor?

  He'd be a tight end today. Right now today, he'd be a tight end. But um, talking about the Heisman Trophy, how often, or does it ever like really hit you that you're the only defensive player in the history, I think it's 86 years of the Heisman Trophy, to win the award? That's one part. And then the legend of number two, do you have any influence on that?

• 10:21Speaker 04

  In terms of like the magnitude of the defense, uh, being the only player, like when we go back to the, to the Heisman House, I actually did a little video this year and they had, you know, um, RG3, Matt Leiner, they had all these, all these quarterbacks. And so I, I scanned, you know, uh, with my, with my camera, and then I put the, uh, put a song on, um, I think of the song in a minute. Anyway, and then I panned to my, my picture and it's only one.

• 10:50Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 10:51Speaker 04

  So it's like, you're around all these, you know, running backs, Barry Sanders and all of the quarterbacks, couple of receivers. It's like, I'm, I'm by myself, man. You know, which is crazy. Um, so yeah, I do think about that. But the, the number. Actually, David Palmer.

• 11:10Fred Taylor?

  Mm-hmm.

• 11:11Speaker 04

  Bama, right? Yeah. David Palmer was a bad dude, man. And he did, he did everything. Man, might line up at quarterback, play receiver, he's in the slot, he punt return. He did, he did everything. And so I remember watching him and of course, Deion as well, but I just, I remember David Palmer at Alabama, man. I was like, oh, man, I like that, I like that Deuce, man. So that was probably the biggest influence on me wearing number two.

• 11:36Channing Crowder?

  And that's funny, I talk about David Boss. He came to Miami when I was there.

• 11:39Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah.

• 11:40Channing Crowder?

  And he little boy me, and to sit with him on the plane, and he came to my house after, after the game.

• 11:47Speaker 04

  Huh? What you, what you, what you mean?

• 11:49Channing Crowder?

  We walk on the plane, and like, I was, I was like the, I was the party dude on the team.

• 11:54Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 11:55Channing Crowder?

  Like, I was to hang out, have a good time, I talk, talk shit and mess with everybody. So he get to the team, and he go sit down here on the plane first, I'm walking down the aisle to get on the plane. And then, uh, David Debo, he like, hey, sit here. I said, huh? I'm like, sit where? And he points, and he so, I'm like, okay, he just got to the team, yeah, he'll be doing, I gotta sit next, I sit, you know, we on the three, so I'm sitting one seat away from him. And then he just goes to sleep.

• 12:24Speaker 04

  Not on your shoulder, he didn't sleep on your shoulder.

• 12:27Channing Crowder?

  He just sleep there, so I kinda sit there, playing cards with the boys around us, and then, after the game, he like, what y'all doing tonight? And I'm like, man, we going, you know, I'm going out. I went out every night. I'm like, y'all know I'm going out. I'm gonna follow you home.

• 12:46Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 12:46Channing Crowder?

  Okay.

• 12:47Speaker 04

  Yeah, okay.

• 12:47Channing Crowder?

  Bro, follow me home, he, I changed, he coming out, David Boss, now we gotta get him on the show, he's a very interesting person. Follow you home, he changed, I changed, we go out, we party, have a good time. He just big man me into being friends almost, and I was like, well, we cool, but I don't know if we that cool.

• 13:06Speaker 04

  Right.

• 13:07Channing Crowder?

  With all that.

• 13:08Speaker 04

  That's funny.

• 13:08Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, and it's crazy, but he was so big, he was, I think he was ahead of his time, like you said, and he's just, the man was a monster. But, bruh, just, I had to tell the David Boss story, David, come on, mess with us. But, uh... Did you understand at the time what you was doing with the Defensive Player of the Year? What happened, like you saying, Marsh and Peyton and all these Hall of Famers and up there? Now you could see it as a, I say 40 plus, you know?

• 13:30Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 13:30Channing Crowder?

  You got some things in the beard. But now you see, at that time where you sitting there as a, as a young man, did you understand what you were doing? Changing football, like, setting records in football that weren't broken for damn near 100 years?

• 13:44Speaker 04

  Yeah and no. Yeah, I knew what it meant in that moment, because like I said, I'm not, I'm not gonna win this trophy. Like, they're not gonna give me this trophy. But, it haven't been done since. So when you think about it, it's like, okay, we, we've broken the mold a little bit. Alright, now there's an opportunity, and there's been some guys that have been up for it.

• 14:03Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 14:04Speaker 04

  I feel like, honestly, Chase Young, if he hadn't had that suspension at the end of his career, he was gonna win it. Because every time they talked about him, or talked about the best player, or talked about Ohio State, it was Chase Young. And then all of a sudden, this little fluky, little whatever happened.

• 14:21Channing Crowder?

  Tyron got suspended too, his year, he played really well.

• 14:25Speaker 04

  Yeah, so, in that moment, for sure, but it hasn't translated to now. You know what I mean? Even with, you look at Travis Hunter, at, you know, Colorado right now, they're, they're, with him playing both ways, they're gonna, they're gonna push it. But when I look at it, he, he really play offense.

• 14:44Channing Crowder?

  Yes, he's an offensive player. He plays almost every snap of offense.

• 14:47Speaker 04

  Yeah, so I got in, and you knew I was gonna get the ball.

• 14:51Channing Crowder?

  Right.

• 14:52Speaker 04

  But I didn't play 120 something, I never did that.

• 14:56Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 14:56Speaker 04

  You know what I mean? I probably could've played more, but, damn. You know what I'm saying? So when you talk about me playing, playing defense, I'm, I'm different, he's different than me.

• 15:06Channing Crowder?

  Yep.

• 15:07Speaker 04

  You know what I mean? So, it's gonna be hard for another guy to do, especially with the guys throwing for so many yards.

• 15:13Fred Taylor?

  Hey Wood, I just wanna say, bruh, I'm a fan. Even though we're a class in 98 draft, I'm a fan, so I wear my gray and black. I got my Woodson bourbon.

• 15:23Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 15:23Fred Taylor?

  Appreciate you.

• 15:23Speaker 04

  That's what I'm talking about.

• 15:24Fred Taylor?

  You know, I got my New Balance, my Threat, and I don't know these jeans. But that's besides the point. Check us out. Shut the fuck up, man.

• 15:33Channing Crowder?

  Look at them shoes, Fred, look at those shoes.

• 15:35Fred Taylor?

  These shoes are amazing.

• 15:36Speaker 04

  Those shoes say, "I'm retired."

• 15:40Fred Taylor?

  They are amazing, boy.

• 15:41Channing Crowder?

  For a long time.

• 15:43Fred Taylor?

  These are amazing.

• 15:43Speaker 04

  You might as well be barefooting, man.

• 15:46Fred Taylor?

  Ortho, ortho.

• 15:47Channing Crowder?

  Those are called the New Balance 401K.

• 15:52Fred Taylor?

  I like that. I like that.

• 15:55Speaker 04

  That's a good one.

• 15:55Fred Taylor?

  New Balance, well, yeah.

• 15:56Speaker 04

  That's a good one.

• 15:57Fred Taylor?

  But no, seriously, because we were talking about the Heisman. Why wasn't your former teammate at Michigan good enough? The GOAT, all-time great NFL quarterback, Tom Brady?

• 16:08Speaker 04

  I mean, that's my, that's my classmate, so we all pulled for, you know, you pulled for your classmates to play. And Tom could play. Only issue is, is that when we got there, there was a guy who was, he was, he was the man. He was going to start, that was Scott Drew's back and then behind him was Brian Greasy. So Brady was, you know, maybe three or four deep. He wasn't going, he wasn't going to play because they had a guy who was going to play. Fast forward to Tom's, which would be his senior year. They had another guy they were bringing in, Drew Henson. And so Drew Henson was all-world, everything. And so, you know, I think there was a, a deal made where, hey, man, if I'm coming to Michigan, I, I need to play too.

• 16:52Speaker 04

  And so they did, you know, everybody was kind of doing that two-quarterback system deal. Tom should have never been splitting time with Drew Henson. But because of the way recruiting was, hey, man, we got this guy, we want to get him here. We got to show him a little love. And so I think that's, that's a big reason why, you know, the chip that Tom always had on his shoulder. It stemmed from just being a young player trying to, trying to, you know, break the lineup. To finally, I got my shot. You know what I'm saying? Like, I should be, this is mine now. Greasy, Greasy's gone. Ain't no more, I think Scott might have still been there, but maybe not. He, he's not the man anymore. This is my shot.

• 17:36Speaker 04

  And then now I got a split time? Nah, you know what I mean? So I think a lot of that played into, you know, what people thought about him. And then they, they talked about his arm not being strong enough, which I never understood because he could make any throw. He could throw the ball 50, 60 yards down the field, but he just had that, that knock on him. And so for him to go as late as he did, I think 199, man, all of that stuff, man, just snowballed in that young man to where he became that unstoppable force.

• 18:03Fred Taylor?

  And you talk about snowball. Uh, fast forward, I don't know how many years, but you guys meet in one of the greatest games ever played.

• 18:11Speaker 04

  The snow bowl.

• 18:12Fred Taylor?

  The snow bowl, snowballing to the snow bowl.

• 18:14Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 18:15Fred Taylor?

  And going full circle. How often does that play or that game hunt you?

• 18:20Speaker 04

  Well, it comes up every day. I swear to God, almost every day. Every day I run into somebody that's, you know, um, a Raider fan, maybe they just, or a fan of mine, they'd be like, oh, it was a fumble. You know what I'm saying? Hey, Charles, was, was it a fumble? Every, every, every day, man, every event I do, it, it comes up all the time. So I can never escape it. I'm over it, you know, from a sense that no matter what happened, I'm, you know, I was gonna go on and, and do well, but it's like, man, you can't.

• 18:54Fred Taylor?

  Can't get it back.

• 18:54Speaker 04

  This shit is, is right there over my shoulder. Every time, every time I leave.

• 18:57Fred Taylor?

  Would you be over it though, if you didn't win a Super Bowl?

• 19:00Speaker 04

  If I didn't win a Super Bowl, I, I wouldn't. I, I've always said to my, before I won one, I was, I always thought to myself, I couldn't, I couldn't leave the NFL without winning a Super Bowl. Otherwise my career wouldn't be complete. So I feel like that was an opportunity missed for us to advance. I think we would have gone on to play Pittsburgh at that time, but we end up going, losing to Tampa. And then you, you, when you go, you think you're gonna go right back. And then I think that next season we were five and 11. So it was like, damn, we were here, then bam, right back down. And so you play more, you know, more years and it's like, man, it seems like it's getting further, the older you get, it's like it gets further away from you. And so, you know, I was like, man, there's no way,

• 19:43Speaker 04

  man, I could leave this league and not be a champion.

• 19:46Fred Taylor?

  LeBron at an NFL, I'm like, this motherfucker gonna play till he's 50. Cause we came in together. I used to see you out there. I played 13. I'm looking around like, damn, what is still going?

• 19:56Speaker 04

  It's, it's funny, man. I played against, uh, Reggie Bush was in Detroit, I think. And it was before the game, we kinda walked up. "Hey, what's up, Heisman?" He's like, "Man, you like a urban legend."

• 20:09Speaker 04

  "Where that come from?"

• 20:12Speaker 04

  "Hey, man, where that come from, man?"

• 20:13Ryan Clark?

  Not flattering.

• 20:16Ryan Clark?

  Hey, I tell you what. Thank God they call your moms. But I do wanna talk about that. You said you were surprised they could get in touch with her 'cause she worked so much.

• 20:24Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 20:24Ryan Clark?

  When you won the Heisman in 1997, this comes out. Your mom said, because she worked so much, there was times she only saw you guys in the morning. You'd be in bed at night. But y'all had monthly meetings.

• 20:34Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 20:34Ryan Clark?

  Where y'all checked in, you know? And I think one of the most beautiful things about your Hall of Fame speech. One, you can't really sing, but you did sing.

• 20:43Speaker 04

  But hold on one second. I ain't hold that note for about, about two, three seconds. For about two, three seconds, you thought I had something, dude. All right, all right. That's all I, that's all I wanna know. That's all, that's all I wanna know.

• 20:56Ryan Clark?

  And you said, though, you know, you said that, they say a woman can't raise a man.

• 21:01Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 21:02Ryan Clark?

  But you called bull crap 'cause your momma raised two.

• 21:04Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 21:05Ryan Clark?

  Speak a little bit about what Georgia Woodson meant to you and your family, and how she helped raise a man who becomes a pro football Hall of Famer, great husband, great father, and a man that's doing great things after he retires.

• 21:19Speaker 04

  Just get it done, man. Like, I feel like that's what I, that's what I gained from my mom, is just get it done. You know what I mean? Like, we all can, or have complained about certain things, and you may complain about it before you, before you get into it. But you, at the back, in the back of your mind, you know, "I just gotta get it done." And so, talking about my mom and how much she worked, and, you know, the hours that she worked. It was, it was all for her kids. You know what I mean? So no matter what she had to do, how many hours, how many days a week, she had to get it done. And I knew she complained. She wouldn't really complain in front of us. She wouldn't cry in front of us. But there would be times where my mom would be in a room, and you may be walking by.

• 22:03Speaker 04

  I remember like a bathroom was, was right by, uh, her room. And you walk by, and sometimes you could hear. My mom was very religious, she was praying. She, how we gonna make it out this thing? You know what I'm saying? She don't know I'm sitting there like, dang, mom, she crying. But the next morning, she gonna get up and go do what she gotta do. You know what I mean? And so I feel like, for me, my entire life has been that. Like, I, I, I, football is a hard, y'all, we play this, it's a tough game, man. You gotta get your mind right each and every day. You know, some weeks are harder than others, but I gotta get it done. Hearing my mom cry is like, I gotta get to this work. You know what I'm saying?

• 22:48Speaker 04

  So, in terms of what I was able to see, what my brother was able to see, we saw that. And, and that's what, you talk about playing 18 years. There's a lot of times where, you know, broken leg, broken shoulder twice, broken clavicle twice, where it's like, I gotta get back right, cause I gotta go get it done.

• 23:10Channing Crowder?

  You practiced with the broken leg at the Super Bowl, you know, right? That's your loss?

• 23:13Speaker 04

  I played, well, I played the playoffs with it. So, I had a, I had a, the, the Tuesday after our last game, so we had the bye week, uh, maybe the Monday after, I, I had the surgery and I put a, put a plate in my leg. And the first playoff game against the Jets, I played. So, I played, uh, those playoffs, broken leg, hurt like hell. I remember, you know, during that week, you know, uh, Bill Callahan was like, if you on practice, you ain't playing. I was like, whoo.

• 23:42Channing Crowder?

  My leg broken up.

• 23:43Speaker 04

  Man, I'm, hey, man, I'm hurt, man. I'm like, I, I think I could be ready on Sunday. He's like, I don't wanna hear it. Man, I was out there, man, so much pain during the week, but I was like, dude, I got, this is, and our team, I felt like, we got the team. I got to be out there and playing, so shit, get it done. And that was that.

• 24:04Channing Crowder?

  You talking about that singing you did. Did you see what you did to DeMarcus Ware?

• 24:09Speaker 04

  Did I, I inspire?

• 24:11Channing Crowder?

  That's not inspiration, did you hear him? Both y'all's ass embarrassed.

• 24:18Channing Crowder?

  I don't know why everybody think they'll say when they say rappers want to be athletes, athletes want to be rappers.

• 24:23Speaker 04

  Hey, man, you know, you just gotta pretend like you in the shower, man.

• 24:28Fred Taylor?

  And DeMarcus did it for the marriage.

• 24:30Speaker 04

  Yeah, so we all did. We both did it for love, man. We both did it for love.

• 24:33Fred Taylor?

  You embarrassed yourself for that reason.

• 24:35Speaker 04

  To us, boy, we sounded damn good. Yeah, we was good.

• 24:38Channing Crowder?

  Did you practice it, what?

• 24:40Speaker 04

  I didn't practice it.

• 24:41Channing Crowder?

  But we could tell.

• 24:42Speaker 04

  I wasn't, uh, there you go. There you go.

• 24:46Channing Crowder?

  I'm gonna just freestyle it, man.

• 24:49Speaker 04

  Nah, hey, uh, what's funny is though, I was sitting there and I was, I was last. So I had to build myself up to do it. And so, you know, Peyton might have been first. So he goes and the next person goes. And so I'm sitting there like...

• 25:05Speaker 00

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• 25:35Speaker 04

  I'm kinda going over them, I think. But when you last, you don't know who else you gonna have left in it because people leave. It's a little different now because they, they keep it eight to 10 minutes. So you can keep people's attention span a little bit more. But I'm like, I'm last. So I can't just like be running the mill when you last. You know what I mean? So by the time it got to the seventh guy, I said, I'm gonna give it up. I'm gonna do it. And so when I stood up there, I was like, man, let's, let's go. Let's get, let's get the people what they want.

• 26:12Channing Crowder?

  But what you talk about, like you say, football is a tough sport and all the injuries you went through and all that. What was the toughest time? Because if people just look at what you did, all, everything, everywhere, all pro everywhere. Got in the league, killed it. Got in college, killed it. Ball in high school, all American. What was that tough time? Because football doesn't look tough to you from the outside looking in.

• 26:34Speaker 04

  Probably when I left Oakland, my eighth year, I broke my leg for the second time. And so I missed the last 10 games of the season. And, you know, I remember the GM at the time was like, you know, there's no value to bringing Charles back to this team. Like, damn, man, I feel like I done gave it up, you know, for these people, man, you gonna tell me there ain't no value? Like, damn, okay. So I'm going to, to the, into the office, I'm going to free agency. So I'm a free agent because I've been franchised twice.

• 27:04Speaker 04

  So I'm like, this is me, you know what I mean? I'm gonna have my pick of where I want to go.

• 27:13Speaker 04

  And man, that phone wasn't ringing.

• 27:15Channing Crowder?

  Damn.

• 27:15Speaker 04

  And I'm like, damn, so I'm, I'm, I'm talking to my, my agent, Carl Poston, my Carl, I'm like, who are we talking to? He's like, ah, you know, I've been reaching out, but I haven't really got anything back. I'm like, did you call Atlanta? Because I lived in Atlanta at the time. They had called Atlanta, they said that, you know, they're not looking for a corner. I'm like, all right, Gruden was in Tampa. Our GM, Bruce Allen, was in Tampa. So I'm like.

• 27:42Channing Crowder?

  Easy.

• 27:43Speaker 04

  No brainer. Go to Tampa. So I, I took a visit there. I'm like, man, this, this is gonna happen. And so that didn't happen. I'm like, all right, okay, cool. I remember during the process, Jacksonville, remember they had the defensive line, they had Stroud and, I think Henderson.

• 28:01Channing Crowder?

  You slap yourself before the game?

• 28:02Speaker 04

  Yeah, and, and linebacker, fast, uh. Mike P. Was that Mike P? Mike P. Yeah. That was when we had the top. Mathis was.

• 28:09Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 28:11Speaker 04

  The whole thing, yeah. I said, that's, that's the spot. We called down there. We don't need a corner. I said, nah, I know, I know y'all need a corner. And y'all know, y'all signed a corner for Minnesota. Brian Williams. I said, y'all motherfuckers. I said, y'all don't need a corner?

• 28:32Fred Taylor?

  Heavy cover two.

• 28:33Speaker 04

  Y'all sign a corner for like, like Tim, I remember, I'm like,

• 28:39Speaker 04

  that's when I was like, man, like, you got to be kidding me. And so, uh, my agent called and, and he's like, hey, uh, Green Bay called. Like, man, I'm not going to Green Bay. Like, what are you talking about? He's like, yeah, you know, that Green Bay didn't want to bring you in. I'm like, I'm like, Carl, man, you can call me back, man. Like, talk to me about Seattle. What's Seattle doing? What? Talked to him a couple of days later, nothing. All right, let, let me, let me visit. Cause now I'm on my last leg. Now I'm like, all right, let me go to Green Bay. I go to Green Bay, visit around there. And then it was, it was the Tampa kind of, I'm thinking, Tampa's like, no, they out. Like, wow. I just, I couldn't believe it, yo. So then, um,

• 29:24Speaker 04

  the Green Bay came and they started talking numbers. The numbers made sense. I'm like, damn, all right. Looked like I'm going to Green Bay. And so I go to Green Bay and man, I didn't, I, I didn't want to be there, man. My spirit was fucked up, yo. Like, my spirit was done. And so I called my mom, I called my agent, I called my financial advisor, I called my cousin, I called Jay. I said, man, I'm thinking about retiring. You know, you know, your moms, your moms like, all right, well, baby, you know, whatever, whatever you want to do. I called my financial advisor. All right, Charles, you sitting here, man, you know, you good? I called James, he said, shit, bro, you know, whatever we got to do going forward. He's in my, he's in my business partner too, shit. We, we good. And then I called, uh,

• 30:09Speaker 04

  Kevin Poston. So it's Carl, then it's Kevin. I called Kevin, I said, Kev, man, I think I'm done, bro. He was like, what, what are you talking about? I said, yeah, man, I don't want to be here, man. I'm, I'm, I think I'm going to retire. He's like, ah, he said, oh, I, I hear you. He said, I hear you. He said, um, but you, you, you signed the contract. I said, yeah, I signed the contract. He said, well, you've given, you've basically given them your word that you, that you're going to play there. And I was like, yeah, but I mean, you know, the season, he was like,

• 30:44Speaker 04

  you at least got to give it a year. And I was like,

• 30:49Speaker 04

  That makes sense, you know, and so we hung up and then went to practice and then I was still kind of got into arguments with coaches and so I was, I was, I think in my mind, I was trying to find a way out.

• 31:02Ryan Clark?

  You were trying to sabotage.

• 31:03Speaker 04

  Yeah, I was trying to find a way out and you know, time passed and things eased up and then it became like one of the best moves I could have ever made, but that time, that little, after that, that eighth season to like that first month or two of my first year in Green Bay, bro, that was rough. Why? Cause the Raiders gave up on you or what like? It wasn't necessarily that the Raiders gave up on me. That, that pissed me off, but it was that nobody valued me for what I was as a player and I felt like, you know, you know, I used to see that ticker on free agency. It'd be like the top free agents left, this guy, this guy and I'd be like,

• 31:48Speaker 04

  damn, look at my.

• 31:52Ryan Clark?

  They must be doing it by alphabetical.

• 31:57Speaker 04

  Cause I've been last, I've been last all my life, Winston. So yeah, maybe, maybe they doing it by the, by the letter.

• 32:04Speaker 04

  Bro, they wouldn't have me in the top like 10, 15, I may be 75th free agent. I'm like, damn, they trying to say I'm sorry? Like, that's really what they saying to me, you know what I mean? So I was, I was like, man, that blew my mind, man.

• 32:18Ryan Clark?

  Well, I'm about to let y'all in on something. Charles Woodson is my favorite player. Charles, we have had this conversation.

• 32:24Speaker 04

  He have, yeah.

• 32:25Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, yeah, come, that's my dog.

• 32:26Speaker 04

  There we go.

• 32:27Ryan Clark?

  That's my dog. He knows me. Like, we talk.

• 32:29Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 32:29Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, M C, M C Wood just sat down, had drinks, talked about it.

• 32:33Speaker 04

  I love it, I love it.

• 32:34Ryan Clark?

  But he also played for my best friend. And so like I would call Joe all the time, be like, hey man, what do he, what does he like? Like, like what does he do? Like what's, what's the workout or whatever? Another thing, he was in Sports Illustrated, obviously, when he wasn't a Heisman. It was on the wall of my dorm in college.

• 32:52Speaker 04

  Really?

• 32:53Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I would, I would, I'm number two. Like, I was just like, I wanted to do everything he did. I wasn't play, I wasn't gonna play no offense though.

• 33:01Speaker 04

  Let me tell you.

• 33:01Ryan Clark?

  Hey, listen, I, I went to college.

• 33:02Speaker 04

  You wasn't about to do what he did.

• 33:04Ryan Clark?

  Hey, Chan, Chan, Chan, I went to college with a ball fade. I got an all even because of him. And I couldn't even wave up on the side. I was brushing the piss off. But Steve Wood, man, I remember going to Kevin Foulks house when I was in, um.

• 33:20Speaker 04

  Kevin Foulks.

• 33:21Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, when I was in college, because all of y'all were on the Parade All-Americian. It was you, Randy Moss, K. Foulks, like that team. Like, I remember that team was stacked and then you.

• 33:31Speaker 04

  K. O. Spice. Yeah, it was crazy, you know?

• 33:35Ryan Clark?

  So you do that, so you were All-American in high school. You win the Heisman as a defensive player. You're a top-five pick. At that point, it has to be tough, too, because it's like the first time the world wasn't acknowledging that you were one of the best to do it.

• 33:50Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 33:51Ryan Clark?

  You know, and but in your tenure in Green Bay, you become the Defensive Player of the Year, obviously a captain, and you win a Super Bowl. What was the journey like back to the top for you, though?

• 34:07Speaker 04

  It was beautiful. It really was because that first year, like I told you, the first couple of months or first couple of weeks, month or so, was rough. And then I felt like everybody, other teams, like they saw me a certain way. He can't do this anymore, da, da, da, da. So I ended up with eight interceptions my first year in Green Bay. And I was like, I knew I could do it, you know what I mean?

• 34:37Speaker 04

  Because in Oakland, you know, we played a lot of man-to-man. I didn't get a whole lot of opportunities because they weren't going to throw the ball my way. And then when I got to Green Bay, it was like, all right, this dude washed up. He ain't doing no more. They started coming over there. I'm like, OK, I'll start picking the ball up. Another one. So then I got to where it was like my old self, like being in college, I expected to get an interception. I got back to like expecting to get interceptions and then so to then to rattle off eight. And then all of a sudden, um, I got comfortable. I got comfortable in Green Bay. I was around Al, who was a veteran, but we had some young guys in there. Nick Collins and then Tremaine Williams came.

• 35:18Speaker 04

  And so I was, I was able to not only, um, get back to. All right, this is Charles Woodson, right? But I was actually able to show the young guys what it looked like. You know what I'm saying? How it was like during practice. Charles, why did you pick that off? You know what I'm saying? What did you see in that? It's like, dude, we just saw it in the film. Like, I'm not about to let them catch something I just saw in the film. And so you get used to making those plays. And I felt like that's when those guys really, their games really took off. Nick was a monster, bro. That make, it's like, that makes sense. Like, okay. So then we started competing in practice. We picking off five and six balls every practice.

• 36:01Speaker 04

  And then in the games, we, man, you know, we was tops in the league in interceptions for a couple of years, man. Nobody was getting the ball, you know, like we was getting it. So to get to that point, bringing Joe in, you mentioned Joe. And me and Joe, we bonded, man. I love Joe. He's a great teacher. You know what I'm saying? He was a great teacher to the other guys as well. And then to get to that point where Don came in with the three, four. And then I was cooking then. Inside too. I was cooking because I, at heart, I'm a football player. Like, I'm just corner, this or that. I can play football. Just put me on the field, coach.

• 36:43Channing Crowder?

  I gotta ask, because you said corner, what else? To be an all-pro Hall of Fame corner, then go to safety. Is that you asking? Is that a coach coming up to you and saying that? Because like, that's a weird thing. Because everybody know safety can't play corner. But a corner can play safety. So it's just saying, hey, Wood, you can't be on that edge no more. Come on inside.

• 37:07Speaker 04

  Nick Collins got hurt. I remember Nick Collins got hurt. And so I was already moving around. I would play safety at times anyway. And so you kind of got to the point where you could feel the team kind of easing you a certain way too, you know what I mean? But in my mind, I'm like, I play whatever, it really didn't matter. So, you know, the transition to doing it, there wasn't a problem with it. And then when Green Bay let me go, that's what everybody was trying to bring me in as anyway. And I was like, cool, I want to still play some football. So if I'm gonna play safety, if you want me to play safety, I got you. Right. Let's go.

• 37:45Ryan Clark?

  Joe Witt tells the story of, I guess, when you win the Defensive Player of the Year, there's this summer award, Vegas, maybe it's in Kansas City, I don't know what the hell it is, but Rex Ryan got up and said that Darrelle Rivas was the best corner in football. I guess that was the year you won it.

• 38:01Speaker 04

  2009.

• 38:02Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, the year you won the Defensive Player of the Year. And Joe was like, yeah, that might be right. But Charles Wilson was the best defensive player.

• 38:07Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 38:08Ryan Clark?

  And I think it goes to your point, though, that you were a football player.

• 38:12Speaker 04

  I feel like, and what Darrelle Rivas did that year is outstanding. But in terms of the game, I feel like you could have put me in line with the MVP because of what I did. Nine interceptions, three forced fumbles, three touchdowns.

• 38:31Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 38:31Speaker 04

  And the tackles or whatever, like, this ain't, everybody ain't doing that.

• 38:36Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 38:37Speaker 04

  You know what I mean? And so, it's like, I heard him, you got to speak up for your guy. Like, it was great, you know, Darrelle was an awesome player. I would never take nothing from Darrelle, but, dude.

• 38:50Ryan Clark?

  I remember.

• 38:51Speaker 04

  Like, I sit back, I ain't gonna lie, I sit back to myself sometimes and be like, shit. He's a motherfucker, you know what I mean?

• 39:01Ryan Clark?

  We had Israel Asai on the show, and our producer was talking to me about it yesterday, and he said, he was like, man, sometimes you got to remind yourself, you're a motherfucking savage.

• 39:11Speaker 04

  Duh. It's real talk. And like, just in terms of, you know, corners or whatnot, like, man, I don't take no backseat to nobody when it comes to corner football player. I just don't, you know? And you can like who you like, and you can put this person up.

• 39:29Fred Taylor?

  Not to me. You know what I mean?

• 39:32Ryan Clark?

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• 39:47Channing Crowder?

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• 39:58Fred Taylor?

  Chan, I love that bet too. But even more importantly, all you gotta do is get an account. Just create your account on this little device right here and you're ready to go. Make it happen.

• 40:07Ryan Clark?

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• 40:16Fred Taylor?

  Well, just to go further on Channing's point, playing corner and safety, 14 years at corner, four years at safety, that 18-year pension gotta be crazy. It's a monster. I already fucking know. But even more than that. You knew Freddie T was gonna get the pension. Yeah, hey, that pension.

• 40:33Channing Crowder?

  That's what old people talk about. New balance for one. New balance, pensions.

• 40:39Fred Taylor?

  Right on time.

• 40:39Channing Crowder?

  And y'all guarding, both y'all got guards.

• 40:42Fred Taylor?

  Cause I know the transition.

• 40:46Fred Taylor?

  I know the transition because in my 13 years, I got out right before the CBA in 2011. And you continue to play a few more years after that. But to my point is, you were able to see the evolution of the game. Like the game started to change because of the rules started to change more. So you come from old school football and you were able to play pretty much kind of what football is today. Through what lens? How do you view the game as it is today? You know, from an analyst's perspective or a former player? How you look at today's football?

• 41:20Speaker 04

  Over the years, you've, it's always been catered to the offense. And so I think even then, or, you know, after that CBA, that 2011, it even went further because that's when the concussions like really, there was a really big emphasis on concussions. And that's when we really like, we really took note of it then too. Like, damn, all them times I was, I said I was, I got my bell rung, that was concussion. So the league definitely leaned into it, you know? And so. I think coupled that with the fact that the game is so spread out now. Horizontal.

• 42:02Speaker 04

  Yeah, trying to get your best players on the field, then protecting the players. That's why those numbers skyrocketed. And then for us, defensive backs, you've got to keep your hands off of them. Watching, we're just watching Minnesota and the Niners. Man, they called so many defensive pass interferences or holding or illegal contacts. And even though a receiver may run directly into you, they're going to call you for illegal contact. Another aspect that changed is.

• 42:34Speaker 05

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• 42:35Speaker 00

  Oh, thanks, Jane. I wish I could hire someone just like you.

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• 42:54Speaker 00

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• 42:58Speaker 05

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• 43:06Speaker 04

  If I would have came into the league in 2011, 2012, after that CBA, man, I might have played 30 years. Oh, yeah. You know what I'm saying? Because no tour days? Yeah, that's crazy. Only so many days and pads. Like, dude, it's unreal. And I got some of that, you know what I mean, continuing to play. I remember as a rookie, I used to always say to myself, man, I know when I retire, it's going to be during training camp. Because I hated training camp. And then to get to that point to where it changed, like, man, I could do this forever.

• 43:38Ryan Clark?

  You are a Michigan great.

• 43:41Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 43:42Ryan Clark?

  One of the greatest to ever do it. There's an article written by somebody from Ohio State that actually says, if they could ever go back and keep one guy that was from Ohio. That went to Michigan, it was you. I think it came down to you, Desmond Howard, and somebody who played running back. But the dude that wrote the article was like, we had Archie Griffin. We ain't trading him. Like, we want to get C. Wood. But, bro, like, the stuff that's going on with Michigan is different this year. Jim Harbaugh gets suspended earlier on in the year. Now they're at the thing of stealing signs and buying tickets for games. As an alum, how do those things affect you? Like, do you pay attention to those things? Do they matter to you? Or you're kind of like, hey, man, that's Michigan and what Michigan is doing now it is, what it is?

• 44:27Speaker 04

  Man, I'm Michigan through and through. You know that. So, yeah, I listened to it, and Michigan has, they have a really good team. You know what I mean? Like, make no mistake about it. I think we still have something to prove because our schedule isn't, you know, the toughest. So, we still got some things to prove. But we got a good team. And so, I just look at it as one of those things where when you at the top, they come for you. They come for you in a lot of different ways. So, whether it's the teams you play getting up for you, or whether it's somebody trying to find some little chink, you know what I mean, to say, ah, they ain't doing it right. You know, they beating people too bad. You know, and it's funny because we played Michigan

• 45:10Speaker 04

  State, and the stuff had come out right before then. And then it's like, okay, so you say we're stealing the signs. So, we ain't stealing no signs, man, right? We gonna beat they at 49 to 0. What you gonna say? Nah. So, you know what I mean? What are you gonna say?

• 45:27Ryan Clark?

  You're right.

• 45:27Speaker 04

  So, yeah, I pay attention to it, but I just don't feel like, in this instance, I don't feel like, with elaborate a scheme that they say it is, I don't feel like Jim would put himself in the position to where everything is scanned now, anyway. We're going to put this elaborate scheme together. And every ticket you buy, you gotta scan your phone, this coming back to you and all these little algorithms, they're gonna find out who's doing what, any discrepancy. I don't feel like he will put himself out there. And I don't know what, I don't know what was going on, you know what I mean? So I can't speak definitively about that. But I just don't believe that Jim would do that. So, yeah, I pay attention to it, but.

• 46:10Speaker 04

  So in college, you can't steal signs? We're talking about signals.

• 46:14Ryan Clark?

  Everybody steals signs. The, what they're saying about Michigan is, you're not supposed to send people to games of other teams in order to steal signs. And they're starting to say that they've had people on staff buy tickets to games, which is dumb. Like, why would I buy a ticket to a game?

• 46:33Speaker 04

  There's no college scouting. Yeah, there's definitely college scouting.

• 46:37Ryan Clark?

  Scouting, but you're not supposed to be able to send people to games with that particular agenda.

• 46:42Speaker 04

  Yeah, like, you know, cell phones. But, but I mean, if you look at guys now, I mean, you're putting up signs. You know, every, every offense, not every offense, but most offenses now, they go up to the huddle.

• 46:54Ryan Clark?

  Hey, bro, we went to.

• 46:58Speaker 04

  So why wouldn't I be looking over there too? Because I'm gonna figure out somebody over there is the one you looking at. I'm gonna try to.

• 47:04Channing Crowder?

  I went to a game Saturday. Dinosaur Oprah is a run. Next time I see dinosaur Oprah, I'm blitzing my motherfucking gun.

• 47:12Ryan Clark?

  I watched a dude, I watched two dudes do the gritty on the sideline this Saturday. The dude slapped, and he looked to the side, the coach is over there.

• 47:20Speaker 04

  Gritty, gritty.

• 47:23Channing Crowder?

  I'm about to shoot my dad.

• 47:24Ryan Clark?

  Next time I see that, that look like running me. Ain't no way you doing that for pass.

• 47:30Channing Crowder?

  No.

• 47:31Speaker 04

  Oh, man, come on, man.

• 47:32Ryan Clark?

  Hey, Wood, your, um, post-career, man, is, is killing. Like Freddie T. mentioned.

• 47:38Speaker 04

  I'm all out.

• 47:39Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, Freddie T. mentioned.

• 47:40Speaker 04

  Man, sorry, I didn't, I didn't bring the refreshment. I told y'all, man, my, my house is a little beat up right now. I got what I could get, man. This is a hell of an old-fashioned, man.

• 47:48Ryan Clark?

  You know, Wood, you know, shoot, I think when I was, did you, were you at the Green Bay game, actually?

• 47:53Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 47:54Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, so like, yeah, you know, they, they treat you like royalty there. What, what is it like, man, to be embraced by these organizations, but also to, that they are also pouring into the fact that Charles Woodson, the person and the businessman, is thriving as well?

• 48:10Speaker 04

  I'm blessed, man, because to be able to play for the University of Michigan, play for the Raiders, play for the Packers, like these storied franchises, you know, big time, you know, university, like, man, who gets to do that? You know what I mean? But both Michigan, the state of Michigan, has embraced what I'm doing with Intercept Wines, Woodson Whiskey, when you talk about Green Bay and Wisconsin, the stadium, you talk about Las Vegas, the stadium, they've all just, you know, it's like the Raiders have the same, you know, once a Raider, always a Raider. But I feel like the other organizations or the teams that I played for treat me the same way.

• 48:53Speaker 04

  And they've embraced it wholeheartedly, you know, like for us to be the official whiskey of the Las Vegas Raiders. After doing it, finding out that I'm the first former player to have a spirit line, to be the official spirit of a stadium, NFL team, like, it's huge. And I think partly because I have a great product, but also because of, you know, how I went out there and played the game, you know, for the Raiders as a player, that they embrace it, you know what I mean? And so the fans have been like incredible, like, you know, on my Instagram, on my Twitter, man, every week, you know, during the week, during games, I see people that, you know,

• 49:35Speaker 04

  post about, you know, each of my labels, and it's just been truly, man, a blessing because you don't get anywhere without the people, without the fans, so.

• 49:45Channing Crowder?

  Bro, to that point, some people are the Raiders, though, with the Davis family, Al Davis and Mark now, Al pass. But like, we've talked to people in the past about the Joan, with Jerry and them being, the owner being so much involved. You were a part of that, where Al was drafting people, just like Jerry was drafting people. Is that good for organization with what you saw in, well, it was Oakland at the time, but now the Raiders? Like, the GM, the owner, it overlaps.

• 50:11Speaker 04

  I think it was good early on for Al, because, you know, Al made a lot of decisions that, at that time, you know, Al wanted, he wanted speed, he wanted somebody that could chuck that ball down the field, and he wanted to play man to man. And during those times, it was, it was great. Cause you can just put athlete on athlete out there, man. And I'm just gonna beat you. I'm faster than you. I can outrun you. And I'm just gonna lock your guys down. And got three championships out of it. But the game changes. Offenses are a little bit more creative nowadays. And so you can't just do things a certain way. You can't draft players a certain way. And so I think that time passed them.

• 50:53Speaker 04

  And so in terms of Jerry, you know, it's. I, I, I actually love Jerry because he, he gonna, he gonna give you some good stuff every week. But for him to be right after the game with a press conference. And then Monday morning, he got another radio. He just give you gems all the time. But I think in terms of him and, and the hand that he has over the organization. I think it handicaps your coach. And he's the GM. So I mean, he's gonna be able to do whatever he wants to. But your coach is really, he's got his hands tied behind his back. Cause he can't necessarily move the way he wants to. Cause Mike might come out, Mike McCarthy might come out and say something today and tomorrow.

• 51:37Speaker 04

  Jerry gonna be like, ah, you know, well, we think this. He'd be like, well, wait a minute, Mike, Mike just said this yesterday. But you gotta go with whatever Jerry say, cause he's, he's the man. You know what I mean? So I think in terms of, um, you know, the coaches and the staff really having the freedom to put their fingerprints on everything. It, it, it handicaps them. Owner operator. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 52:01Fred Taylor?

  And we, uh, we talked about Vegas. We talked about Jerry and the Cowboys. We talked about Mike McCarthy, who you've, you've played for Super Bowl. A few of us picked the Cowboys earlier on. Now we're at the midway point of the season.

• 52:15Speaker 04

  Yeah, I think everybody for a minute.

• 52:16Fred Taylor?

  Right, but, uh, with that, two parts. I want to know your pick for the Super Bowl. And also is Woodson Wines or Bourbon doing anything during the Super Bowl? Cause the pivot gonna be there.

• 52:26Speaker 04

  Man.

• 52:27Fred Taylor?

  We gonna pull up.

• 52:27Speaker 04

  Woodson Whiskey Intercept.

• 52:28Fred Taylor?

  Woodson Whiskey Intercept.

• 52:30Speaker 04

  We gonna be all over the Super Bowl.

• 52:31Fred Taylor?

  Let us know.

• 52:31Speaker 04

  Yeah, well, a hundred percent.

• 52:32Fred Taylor?

  And we there.

• 52:33Speaker 04

  It's gonna be the, the Intercept, Woodson Whiskey takeover for the Super Bowl. But, uh, so whatever y'all want to do, y'all let me know, we in.

• 52:39Fred Taylor?

  Be there, we'll pull up.

• 52:40Speaker 04

  What was your question? I forgot.

• 52:41Fred Taylor?

  The, the Super Bowl pick.

• 52:42Speaker 04

  You have you think about, I'm working, man.

• 52:45Ryan Clark?

  He went, he went right in the bitch's head.

• 52:46Speaker 04

  I'm working, I'm working.

• 52:47Channing Crowder?

  You can get that dress now, I'll take the case.

• 52:51Speaker 04

  I gotcha, I gotcha. We worked that out. Super Bowl, so I love Philly. I love Philly. Last year, Philly was my pick to win it. This year, I'm really going back with the same two teams, Philly and the Chiefs.

• 53:07Channing Crowder?

  Okay.

• 53:07Speaker 04

  And I'm rolling back with Philly. I'm rolling back with Philly, man. I just, and there's aspects about that team that I don't like, but they just helped themselves out by trading for a buyer.

• 53:20Channing Crowder?

  Buyer.

• 53:20Speaker 04

  Like, damn.

• 53:21Channing Crowder?

  Yeah. I called him tonight.

• 53:23Speaker 04

  Dude.

• 53:24Channing Crowder?

  He on tomorrow.

• 53:25Speaker 04

  How's he do? Every... Look, I think about my career and I'm like, man, we never made moves like that. You know what I'm saying? Like continually trying to get your team better. So I'm gonna go with Philly to win the whole thing.

• 53:38Ryan Clark?

  By the way, also, just part of my Charles Woodson fandom. Remember Coach Tomlin talked about me and him being the last people on the field?

• 53:46Speaker 04

  Man, Mike didn't want me either, man.

• 53:48Ryan Clark?

  Hey, first off, you know, I tried.

• 53:50Speaker 04

  I'm just saying.

• 53:51Ryan Clark?

  I tried.

• 53:51Speaker 04

  I'm just saying. Where my camera at?

• 53:54Ryan Clark?

  You got one right here, you got one right here.

• 53:56Speaker 04

  Mike, you ain't want me neither, bro.

• 53:58Ryan Clark?

  Hey, I tried.

• 53:59Speaker 04

  Hey, no, hold on. Troy called me. I said, you know, Troy?

• 54:01Ryan Clark?

  We will work it.

• 54:02Speaker 04

  Charles, man, we would love to have you, man. I'm like, man, my man Troy. Man, yeah, man, we gonna make this happen. Man, Mike, man.

• 54:10Ryan Clark?

  Hey, we tried. But you know why I was the last person?

• 54:14Speaker 04

  What is that?

• 54:15Ryan Clark?

  I went to find him.

• 54:16Speaker 04

  Yeah, really?

• 54:18Ryan Clark?

  Yep, like it was something tweeted. Green Bay people think I hate Green Bay. I don't know why. It was something tweeted, right? And they called me an a-hole because as Aaron is kneeling, I'm running. But they think I'm running to the locker room. I was running to find him.

• 54:32Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 54:33Ryan Clark?

  Because he was hurt.

• 54:34Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 54:34Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 54:35Ryan Clark?

  So I found him, I dapped him off, I told him, congrats, and then I left. And so that's why me and Mike T was the last people out there because he had to go take, shake Mike's hand. I found him and we rolled.

• 54:47Speaker 04

  I'm doing it.

• 54:47Ryan Clark?

  No, real talk. He's my favorite player of all time. But anyway, right now, the Raiders have another star in Devonte Adams. Who has recently like sort of caught heat because they won two games in a row. And he said, look, man, like, I want my greatness to influence the team's greatness. And I feel like when I'm playing at a high level and it's allowing the team to reach a certain level, like that's where I'm the best. And then they go lose to the Bears with a backup quarterback who's an undrafted free agent, Division II guy. What would be your advice to Devante though, in a situation like this? Because you've been on teams and been the best player, been really good, and those teams aren't being successful. What would be your advice to getting through this sort of adversity for a player like him

• 55:31Ryan Clark?

  who's on a Hall of Fame trajectory?

• 55:33Speaker 04

  Well, first, I didn't, I didn't like that after the two wins. You know what I mean? I don't, I don't think it's, I don't think it's ever the right time after a win to talk about me and, and what I should be doing for the team. I think that that is an opportunity for you to get back to the building. Go get, um, Hoyer or go get O'Connell and say, hey, man, let's, let's sit down and let's, let's, let's peek this out. Here's what we have. All right, I was doubled on this play, but if you can stay with me a little longer, I'm going to undress. Or dude, make me the first read on this play, I'm open. Cause a lot, a lot of times Devante is open, he's open right now. But if your, if your first read is over here, you don't see it.

• 56:17Speaker 04

  But if you got the matchup, you need to be looking at 17, right? Now, in terms of this last week, you can act a ass if you want to. Cause that what they looked like. You know what I'm saying?

• 56:31Ryan Clark?

  He said, "This week."

• 56:32Speaker 04

  You can say, you can say whatever you want to say, man, because there's no way, there's no way you should go to Chicago. And remember last year when Baker came and he was in LA for 36 hours and, and beat the Red?

• 56:46Ryan Clark?

  Last minute drive.

• 56:47Speaker 04

  You know what I'm saying? Like this is the same thing. And not to take anything away from, you know, the, the young quarterback who, who gets in and helps his team win, but we, we not supposed to, to lose that game.

• 56:58Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 56:59Speaker 04

  And so for my, my, well, I would say my advice is that, cause I played in, in Oakland, man, and we, we lost a lot of games. And so, you know. All you can really do is what you can do. You know what I mean? There's constructive criticism that you can take to your head coach. You can take to your position coach. You can take to the quarterback. And you handle that within those walls. Now, again, I don't have any problem with him after a loss coming out and saying what we look like. You can say whatever you want to say. Don't do it after the win. But after a loss, man, you gotta have at it because there is a certain way it should look if we out there getting whooped. If I am the guy and what we're doing is not working, find me.

• 57:44Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 57:45Speaker 04

  If you gotta force it to me 13, 14 times, 15 times, find me.

• 57:50Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, because I'm better than him.

• 57:51Speaker 04

  I get that.

• 57:52Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 57:53Speaker 04

  I get that 100%. So I hope they got it. They got it. It's been too long for that organization to be where they are and to continue to go through the same thing. The fans are, they're erupting with just disgust at the fact that they went on the road and lost to Chicago last week. And so now they gotta go see the Lions. The Lions ain't playing around. Like, they got whooped, but that happens at times, but this is gonna be a different story, man.

• 58:25Ryan Clark?

  And it's in Detroit.

• 58:25Speaker 04

  And it's in Detroit.

• 58:26Ryan Clark?

  It's in Detroit. You know, so we have friends of the show on the Raiders. Max Crosby is one of our guys. Absolute monster.

• 58:35Speaker 04

  Dog.

• 58:35Ryan Clark?

  You know, needs to be talked about as up there with the best rushers in the game.

• 58:39Speaker 04

  He should be up there in the conversation.

• 58:41Ryan Clark?

  With Miles Garrett, TJ Watts, and those guys. And he had, obviously, a huge pivot in life to where he is now with his sobriety. Being a husband, family man, one of the best in the game. But we like to ask our guests who have had these amazing lives and careers, like, what was their biggest pivot? So if you could pinpoint a moment or moments that if these things don't happen, Charles Woodson isn't here, Charles Woodson isn't the Hall of Famer, Charles Woodson isn't the great man that he is, what were some of those things or the thing that you point to that you say this moment had to happen in order for me to be who I am?

• 59:21Speaker 04

  I think one is going back to leaving Oakland. You know, I think that moment had to happen. You know, even though I, I never intended to ever leave Oakland, I think that was a, that was an opportunity for me to grow. But within that time, my wife now, I had met her probably two years before that. But during that time, that's when we really connected. And then 2009, my first son was born. So leaving Oakland, having my wife there, my girl at the time, when I first went to Green Bay,

• 1:00:03Speaker 04

  and then having my first son, like, those, yeah, like that, that little stretch is, you know, what I look to is like, man, if, if, if I don't have those three or four years for those things to happen, I don't know.

• 1:00:19Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:19Speaker 04

  You know what I mean? I don't know what happens if I stay in Oakland.

• 1:00:21Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 1:00:22Speaker 04

  You know what I'm saying? Like, there's, there's no clue, because I was, I was still young, I was still, I was still doing my thing. You know what I mean? And that was a, that was a wake-up call, you know, leaving there that, man, you ain't all what you think you are, bruh. You need to, you need to hone in a little bit.

• 1:00:40Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:40Speaker 04

  You know what I mean? And those, those things helped me hone in and, and, and get to where I need to be, you know?

• 1:00:47Ryan Clark?

  You know, we've had conversations about your career, life, you know, how I feel about it, how I feel about you as a player, as, as a big brother as well, man. I, I've been excited as hell, like, we was like, hey, man, like, we could leave, because we do shows in one place all the time. It's like, we could leave this week, we gotta get somebody. I was like, don't eat shrimp.

• 1:01:07Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:01:08Ryan Clark?

  And you know, so, man, the fact that you sat down with us, man, shared that wisdom, told your story is, is an honor for me.

• 1:01:14Speaker 04

  How many was I down on the totem pole for y'all got to me? I was like, we gonna call.

• 1:01:17Fred Taylor?

  I ran up on you in the casino. I went in, but he was having a private wine tasting or something. I ran up in there. Security tried to jam me up. I mean, I'll have my dog on the road.

• 1:01:28Channing Crowder?

  I'm glad you admitted it, because he dropped your name 700 times in the thread. You know I can hit C. Wood. I can always holler at C. Wood. Charles, damn, we gotta get C. Wood. I'm like, nigga, okay, you know him, we understand that.

• 1:01:44Ryan Clark?

  I shot the man a text.

• 1:01:45Speaker 04

  Hey, boy, hold on, let me get on him, though. I'm gonna get on him, because he shot me a text the other day.

• 1:01:52Speaker 04

  Hit him right back. Well, I hit my man like too long ago, man. Hey, Ryan, man. Hey, man, Ryan, NFL, you know, NFL. What show, what is it?

• 1:02:02Fred Taylor?

  It was Inside the NFL.

• 1:02:03Speaker 04

  Inside the NFL. Hey, I said, boy, hey, boy, you're doing it. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

• 1:02:11Fred Taylor?

  No, my bad.

• 1:02:14Channing Crowder?

  Green, them little three dots.

• 1:02:20Ryan Clark?

  Hey, see, you can't tell her, that's supposed to be me.

• 1:02:23Speaker 04

  Hey, you know what, you know I got an Emmy too, right? I almost took a picture and said, man, hey, I got an Emmy too.

• 1:02:32Channing Crowder?

  Making sure your wifi on.

• 1:02:34Fred Taylor?

  That would.

• 1:02:35Channing Crowder?

  I'm on AirPlay.

• 1:02:36Fred Taylor?

  To his defense, you know, I missed the flowers, Freddie. This motherfucker got 10 jobs.

• 1:02:41Speaker 04

  He got jobs.

• 1:02:42Fred Taylor?

  He's overworked.

• 1:02:43Speaker 04

  He got jobs.

• 1:02:44Fred Taylor?

  RCD, Inside the NFL, First Take, Get Up.

• 1:02:48Ryan Clark?

  Let me be honest, though, when I went to text him, I did see it. Once I went to text him something, I was like, dang.

• 1:02:53Fred Taylor?

  Hey, Fred.

• 1:02:53Ryan Clark?

  I did miss my dog.

• 1:02:54Speaker 04

  I got many jobs too.

• 1:02:59Ryan Clark?

  I like, I did miss my dog.

• 1:03:01Fred Taylor?

  That's love, bruh.

• 1:03:02Ryan Clark?

  Dog, I appreciate you.

• 1:03:03Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, Wood, that's love.

• 1:03:04Speaker 04

  It's all good, man.

• 1:03:05Fred Taylor?

  James, we ready for you, baby.

• 1:03:07Speaker 04

  Don't. Let's go, James.