Two defensive backs that started their professional careers about as far apart as possible, came together for a remarkable seven year stretch in Green Bay, went their separate ways until retirement, are now back together again in Packers football immortality.
Al Harris and Charles Woodson have finally been inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. They were both elected in 2019 but the enshrinement was postponed last year because of the pandemic. It was rescheduled for earlier this summer but moved to late August and finally to the September ceremony inside the Lambeau Field atrium.
Harris began his career as an unheralded Tampa Bay Buccaneer 6th round draft choice out of Texas A&M Kingsville in 1997. Charles Woodson was the celebrated Heisman Trophy winner from Michigan taken fourth overall by the Oakland Raiders in 1998.
Harris spent his rookie year on the Bucs practice squad and was cut at the end of the 1998 training camp. Claimed by the Philadelphia Eagles in late August, Harris jumped right into the starting lineup a week later replacing the injured Bobby Taylor. He became a dependable player at cornerback but just couldn’t crack the starting lineup regularly. Still, he built a reputation as one of the better nickel corners in the league. In February of 2003, Harris had a wish granted and was traded to the Packers. Head Coach and General Manager Mike Sherman gave up a second round pick to get him.
Harris became an immediate starter but wasn’t the star of the secondary at the time. That role belonged to Darren Sharper. Harris played opposite Mike McKenzie his first year at corner. He left via free agency and the Packers drafted the forgettable Ahmad Carroll in 2004. Then Sharper moved on to Minnesota and the Packers drafted Nick Collins in 2005. By then, Harris was the mainstay and his play was as famous as the long dreadlocks.
At the end of his first season with the Packers, he made one of the most iconic plays in the team’s post season history, intercepting Matt Hasselbeck in overtime and taking it 52 yards for the first walk off defensive touchdown in NFL annals as Green Bay beat Seattle and former coach Mike Holmgren 33-27. In 2004, Harris broke up a team record 28 passes. He had another pick six against the Saints in 2005 and allowed only one touchdown to a receiver that season.
Harris earned Pro Bowl honors in both 2007 and 2008 and was an Associated Press All Pro second team member in 2007.
Injuries defined his final two and a half seasons with the Pack. A ruptured spleen in 2008 wiped out half his season and then he endured a horrible knee injury in 2009. He hadn’t recovered by the start of the 2010 season and while he stayed with the team, was eventually released just weeks before a run to the Super Bowl title was to begin. He would play 102 games in Green Bay and Harris was the starting corner for every one.
Harris finished his career in Miami and then with the Rams in St. Louis.
Al Harris strikes a memorable pose.
At the Hall of Fame’s bronze football unveiling ceremony Wednesday night, I caught with Harris to talk about the honor of entering the hall.
Charles Woodson certainly lived up to the hype during his early years with the Silver and Black. He earned All Pro honors and helped the Raiders become contenders. In 2001 he was involved in the unforgettable “tuck rule” game in the snow against New England, stripping Patriot quarterback Tom Brady only to have the fumble ruled an incomplete pass. The Raiders reached the Super Bowl in 2002 where they were upset by the Buccaneers. After the 2005 season, Woodson’s contract expired but Oakland, not to mention the rest of the league, were lukewarm toward the veteran.
Then General Manager Ted Thompson stepped up with a 7 year, 52 million dollar deal. With no other serious suitors, Woodson became a Packer in April of 2006. He joined a team with an aging Brett Favre and a young Head Coach in Mike McCarthy. Woodson and McCarthy didn’t exactly see eye to eye in the early days as Charles was asked to play unfamiliar roles on a strange, new team. It was evident however, the Packers had themselves a play maker with plenty left in the tank. Always around the ball, takeaways were coming in bunches.
By 2009, now settled at safety in coordinator Dom Capers’ defense, Woodson was so dynamic he was named the Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year. Over the course of 100 games as a Packer, with 100 starts, Woodson set team career records with 8 defensive touchdowns, 7 interceptions and one fumble return, he forced 15 fumbles in all, recovered 6 and he piled up 38 career interceptions with 11 and a half sacks.
Woodson became the inspirational leader of a team that ascended to Super Bowl XLV where the Packers beat the Steelers 31-26 in Arlington, Texas. The superstar however would watch the finish from the sidelines after breaking his collarbone late in the first half. A similar injury two years later had the Packers thinking his best days were behind him and in February of 2013, Thompson made a decision he admitted later, one to regret, but letting Woodson go.
He returned to the Raiders for three more seasons and his fabulous career was worthy of induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio just last month.
Hall of Fame President Tom Konop presents Charles Woodson’s bronze football.
The quintessential pro, Woodson was always a fascinating interview in the locker room and it was more of the same when I caught up with “Sir Charles” on his way to the Packers Hall of Fame.
One player began his career in Florida, another in Northern California. They came together for five unforgettable seasons smack dab in the middle, Green Bay Wisconsin. Al Harris and Charles Woodson left an imprint that literally “cornered” the market on defensive back play and were rightly honored by becoming members of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame…..together.
