Charles Woodson Says Marvin Harrison Was The Best Receiver He Played Against

Charles Woodson is retiring after tomorrow’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Over his 18 NFL seasons, he’s amassed 13 defensive touchdowns and 65 picks, good for first and fifth respectively (both in ties) of all time. He’s won a Super Bowl and is the last defensive player to win a Heisman trophy. For my money, this pick in that Heisman season on a would-be throwaway is one of the coolest defensive plays I’ve ever seen.

He’s been writing a series of columns for ESPN about his career, and in the most recent, he discussed, at length, playing against Marvin Harrison and called him the best receiver he ever covered. It’s a cool read:

Marvin Harrison was the best receiver I played against, especially being a young player and just learning the game at this level. He was already at a high level, and the job was made even more difficult because it seemed like every time we played the Colts it was in Indianapolis, where they played on turf — that old AstroTurf. I hated playing on that. The Colts were fast on it, and Marvin had everything: He was bigger than you would think from watching him on film, and he was fast and quick and ran great routes. They were going to line him on the defense’s left side every time, but he was tough to deal with even when you knew where he was going to be. I never was one of those guys who was going to lose sleep thinking about a matchup, but I did understand that it was going to be one of those days when I was playing him. Really, he was the only guy that I thought of like that.

In a cool little scheduling quirk, Woodson will end his career in the same stadium he started it in. The Raiders have been eliminated from playoff contention, and Woodson is 39, but he still has the fourth-most interceptions in the NFL.

Photo via Getty