Sourdough Sam
Well-known member
- Mar 20, 2019
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“I’ll go through my notes and say, ‘Hey, you did this well. You can improve on this.’ He’s very prideful,” Woods said. “Giving up a play on the practice field means something to him. … I make sure to evaluate every play because I know he’s going to text me.”
When the two disagree, it leads to positive conversation about thought process, technique, scheme and the overarching goals of the defense. They’ll cover everything from Day 1 fundamentals down to the smallest minutia in Sherman’s pursuit of mastery.
“It’s consistency, consistency, consistency,” Sherman said. “You just want to be perfect, and I’ve yet to have a perfect game or a perfect practice.”
Woods’ résumé gives him instant credibility with his players, including a three-time All-Pro like Sherman. He’s coached eight different players to 15 Pro Bowls. Woods also has a unique connection to Sherman through current Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason.
Mason worked under Woods with the Minnesota Vikings from 2007-09 before being hired by Stanford. There he spent one season as Sherman’s defensive backs coach in 2010. Woods said he remembers Mason calling him before the 2011 NFL Draft in order to put Sherman on his radar.
“He’s coached a lot of great corners,” Sherman said of Woods. “He’s coached at the highest level. He’s coached Super Bowls. He’s coached a lot of guys I respect. … I respect everything he does, and I enjoy working with him.”
The conversation last year surrounded Sherman’s anticipated return from an Achilles tear. Looking back, the reality of the corner’s first season in San Francisco could never match the anticipation. Sherman never reached 100 percent from a health standpoint. Random ailments popped up due to overcompensating from his Achilles injury. Woods said he could see Sherman laboring when watching tape from 2018.
Now Sherman is the talk of OTAs. He admitted last week this is the healthiest he’s felt in years, and he can finally “move and groove” the way he used to. It’s also evident, given his daily messages to Woods, that he remains hell-bent on proving his All-Pro days aren’t behind him.
“I feel like he’ll be more of the Richard Sherman that we’re used to seeing,” Woods said.