Charles Woodson played a lot of seasons (18) and a lot of games (254) in his NFL career. He made a lot of interceptions (65), a lot of pass breakups (183) and a lot of fans.
The former Raiders and Packers defensive back had everyone remaining at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium standing, and it was not because he was the final of seven Hall of Fame inductees from the Class of 2021 to speak Sunday night.
“Anybody who was at Fremont Ross, any player that played with me, please stand up. Stand up. Keep standing. Keep standing,” Woodson said. “Any Michigan Wolverine, stand up. Any Green Bay Packer, past, future, present, all the fans, stand up. Any Oakland Raiders fans, Las Vegas Raiders fans, stand up. Keep standing. Keep standing. To anybody — anybody — who was a fan of the way I played the game of football, you stand up, too. Anybody. My [college] coach Lloyd Carr told me a long time ago, there’s no one bigger than the team. No one bigger than the team. Keep standing! Don’t sit down! Stand up! We did this together! Together! Me and you! We were Mr. Ohio together. We were a Heisman Trophy winner together. We were national champions together. We were defensive rookies [of the year] together. We were defensive player of the year together. Super Bowl champions together. So when I say that when I go in, we go in, I mean that from the bottom of my heart.”