Being old in the NFL is like some kind of curse which makes most teams want to stay away from you, regardless of your remaining abilities. Charles Woodson has the most impressive resume a defensive back in the league can have, but six weeks after being released from the Green Bay Packers, except for some feelers from the San Francisco 49ers, no one wants to sign the former Pro Bowl cornerback and recently safety.

Forget about the Super Bowl championships and his great years for both the Raiders and the Packers. Woodson is damaged goods at this moment for about 95% of the NFL, waiting for the draft, probably, and only then hoping they might sign a more desperate Woodson on a much cheaper deal than what he’s looking for right now. According to Woodson, he’s messaging most teams in the NFL that he’s looking for a job and probably waiting for someone to drop him the offer, but for now, that just isn’t happening.

If you’re an older guy, they kind of push you to the side, and they’ll maybe look at you much later on down the road, when I guess they figure they can get you much cheaper. Nothing right now, nothing substantial. I’m just waiting around. We put feelers out, just to see where everybody’s at, but there’s not much right now.

While Woodson hasn’t been exactly in defensive player of the year form over the last couple of seasons for the Packers, the move to Safety has brought some new life to his career, and there’s no doubt he still has plenty to contribute to any team that signs him, even as a guy who plugs in holes in the secondary. His age plus his pedigree might be his own downfall at the moment – teams are staying away, pretty sure he’ll ask for a pretty high price.

And Woodson? As times goes by (five months away from the beginning of the 2013 season), he’s just a veteran looking for a team to pick him up, not wanting to retire from the game as someone who couldn’t get a job.

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