Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots relied heavily on their top three cornerbacks in 2025, and for good reason: Christian Gonzalez, Carlton Davis and Marcus Jones were one of the best trios in the NFL last season. As a consequence of their performance and relative durability, however, the depth options saw only limited opportunity.
Tops among those backups was late-summer waiver claim Charles Woods, who served as an emergency cornerback and part-time special teamer in his first year with the club.
Name: Charles Woods
Position: Cornerback
Jersey number: 22
Opening day age: 26 (6/17/2000)
Measurements: 5’10 7/8”, 185 lbs, 30 3/8” arm length, 71 3/4” wingspan, 9” hand size, 4.59s 40-yard dash, 6.89s 3-cone drill, 4.28s short shuttle, 30 1/2” vertical jump, 9’7” broad jump, 2.43 Relative Athletic Score
NFL: Los Angeles Rams (2024-25), England Patriots (2025-) | College: Illinois State (2018-20), West Virginia (2021-22), SMU (2023)
Even though he scored 16 touchdowns as a multi-purpose weapon during his senior year at Kimball High School in Dallas, Woods was rated a no-star recruit and received limited college attention. He nonetheless found a home at Illinois State, where he ended up playing 30 games with 22 starts over three seasons. With Covid-19 forcing a cancellation of the team’s 2020 fall season, however, he opted to enter the transfer portal.
Woods subsequently joined West Virginia as a three-star transfer recruit, and showed promise early on: starting four out of his 11 games, he registered four takeaways. However, a leg injury suffered in the 2022 season opener halted his momentum and he left the Mountaineers for SMU after just four more games and an eventual medical redshirt.
In his final season in college, Woods started 14 games for the Mustangs and was named third-team All-ACC. It was not enough for his name to be called in the NFL Draft, but he eventually still found a home in the league when the Rams signed him as a rookie free agent. He saw action in 12 games in his first year as a pro, appearing mostly on special teams, before getting released ahead of his sophomore campaign and making his way to New England.
Including his first season as a Patriot, Woods has 31 regular season and playoff games to his name as well as 17 combined tackles between defense and kicking game.
Strengths: Woods is a well-built athlete who meets the size and length requirements to play cornerback and special teamer in the NFL. He plays with some awareness, uses the sideline well as a boundary corner, and has shown good reactionary skills as well as a nose for the football. He also is not being afraid to come down from the outside in run support or as a blitzer, and is physical enough to square up and take down ball carriers in the open field. He offers good versatility both on defense and in the kicking game, and despite not having standout testing speed moves fairly efficiently...
