There are instances when four and a half weeks can seem like an eternity.
That's an experience rookie linebacker Marc Woodard had after being among the last players cut by Pittsburgh less than a week before the 1993 season opener and signing to be on the Eagles' practice squad after five games.
"I'll be honest with you. I was young and green and I didn't have a whole lot of guidance. I just kind of thought, 'Well, that was my dream and it's over,'" Woodard said. "I had like three classes left to finish my master's degree (at Mississippi State University), and so I had made up my mind that I was just going to go back to school and finish that and just try to move on with life in some kind of way.
"And then the phone rings and it's the Eagles calling, so the dream is back alive again."
After making his way to Philadelphia, Woodard walked into the locker room for the first time and found himself looking face-to-face with Eagles history.
"There were guys like Seth Joyner and Byron Evans and Willie T (William Thomas). That was the starting linebacker crew at the time," Woodard said. "Eric Allen was still there. Andre Waters was still there. Wes Hopkins. So there were still like the remnants of that old Buddy Ryan defense that was still in the locker room.
"And it was great to just be around all those guys. They were willing to explain things and point out different things. Seth was more serious and focused, but it was a great locker room."
While "Buddy Ball" was just a memory then, with Rich Kotite in his third year as the head coach, Woodard was joining a defense orchestrated by longtime coordinator Bud Carson.
"It certainly wasn't the easiest defense to learn," Woodard said. "He had a defense called AFC, automatic front and coverage. And so depending on how the offense came out and lined up, that was supposed to dictate how the defensive front lined up and what coverage the secondary was supposed to play.
"And I just remember, 'Wow, I didn't realize it was that involved.' It certainly wasn't that involved when I was in the Pittsburgh Training Camp. You ran what they called. There were audibles, but the whole automatic thing where if they came out lined up like this, you're supposed to automatically know we're going to line up in this front and this coverage.
"So it was challenging, but it was a really good learning environment because all of the guys were willing to teach and kind of show us the ropes."
Earning a roster spot the following season, Woodard stepped onto the field for the first time in a regular-season game in the opener at the Meadowlands against the Giants. He played in every game, finishing second on special teams with 27 tackles.
In 1995, Woodard saw action at linebacker in passing situations and recorded a sack on both ends of the midseason bye – the Week 7 game at the Giants to go along with four tackles, and the Week 9 game against the Rams. And he was still a force on special teams, leading the unit with 14 tackles and being named as its MVP.
"It was humbling because that was a team-voted award and it meant a lot that my teammates thought that much of me to name me as the MVP," Woodard said. "And then what that also meant is that you got to walk out and be a captain at the coin flip at the beginning of the games. So it was very, very awesome, but humbling just to be able to do that. I still have the little trophy that I got for that on display in my office at work."
Woodard put in the work and more during that season's Wild Card playoff game against Detroit when he tied for the team lead with a career-high five solo tackles in the 58-37 victory.
"What I remember most about that game is trying to tackle Barry Sanders," Woodard laughed. "And what I remember in particular is being called for a personal foul, facemask, twice in that game just trying to tackle Barry Sanders in the open field. Two 15-yard penalties against me! He literally could be running full speed, stop on a dime, hop sideways five yards, and then he's running full speed again."
Not having to worry about tackling the impossible since leaving the game in 1997, Woodard and his wife, Deirdre, make their home in South Jersey. They have three adult children: Jessica, Marc II, and DeAnna.
Woodard now tackles new business development in the financial industry, working for institutions like Janney Montgomery Scott in his post-football career.
"I go out and look for loans, deposits, but in particular, we're trying to get our best clients to invest money with our division," Woodard said.
"The majority of them are business owners. Whether they sold the business, or whether they inherited a business, or started a business from scratch, they're successful. There are just thousands of ways that people, if you work hard enough, some don't have to work, but the majority of them work hard enough to get to the point where they're financially successful.
"And so I think that's probably the part I enjoy the most, meeting the people and hearing their different stories."
