'I Go Hard All the Time!' Cowboys Great Darren Woodson - Why Snubbed?
History hasn't rightly remembered Dallas Cowboys superstar safety Darren Woodson for his impact on the game, and perhaps the future will be different. But for now we're left with the Super Bowl safety expressing excitement at having been (again) a Hall of Fame finalist, only to fall a bit short.
"It's been on my mind,'' said Woodson leading up to this year's process, with our Mike Fisher noting has been a semifinalist six times since retiring following the 2003 season. "And it's something I worked toward. ... I wanna go hard all the time. This is a moment that I'm not going to take lightly. I burn hot every single day.''
And Cowboys Nation should be "burning'' at the slight. He was a foundational champion in Dallas ... and maybe more than that.
"Much like Tom Landry's 4-3 Cover 2 scheme was duplicated, defensive coordinators around the league started looking for the next Darren Woodson. That alone should be enough to get him recognized as one of the best to ever do it," Inside The Star wrote.
After being a second-round pick out of Arizona State University, Woodson proved himself by becoming a starter in his second season. He was named a first-team All-Pro three consecutive times and a Pro Bowler five straight years.
Woodson helped popularize the nickel safety position because he could move like a cornerback but hit like a linebacker helping pave the way for position-less chess pieces in the modern NFL like Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James and modern-day Dallas freak defender Micah Parsons.
Woodson was great to the end, as in his final season [2003], Dallas had the No. 1 defense in the entire league and he ended as the franchise's all-time leading tackler [937] while recording double-digit sacks, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries, and interceptions [had five twice], helping earn him an eventual jersey retirement in the Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2015.
As Fish points out, "Steve Atwater, John Lynch and Brian Dawkins - all contemporaries of Woodson as safeties in the same era - are in the Hall of Fame. None of them were better than Darren Woodson.''
Perhaps 2024 will finally be the year that the Dallas legend is inducted into the NFL's Hall of Fame, but either way, his impact is still being felt in today's game as modern Cowboys players like Parsons and Trevon Diggs try to elevate Dallas' defense to the heights Woodson did.
You can follow Isaiah DeAnda Delgado on Twitter and Instagram @IsaiahDDelgado.
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