NFL Draft
3/26/25
5 min read
Craig Woodson 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For California Golden Bears SAF
Height: 5116 (verified)
Weight: 202lbs (verified)
Year: Sixth-Year Senior
Pro Comparison: Rudy Ford
Scouting Overview
California Golden Bears safety Craig Woodson projects as a developmental starter at the NFL level. Woodson boasts good football IQ and sufficient functional athleticism to play on the back end as a low safety or split-field defender.
Woodson is tough but not overly physical, which makes him a bit of a tweener for the transition he’ll face. With reliable tackling form, good play processing, and some alignment versatility in the intermediate areas of the field, Woodson’s college tenure and experience have prepared him to serve as a potential role player early on.
2025 NFL Combine Results
| Position | Name | School | 40-Yard Dash | 10-Yard Split | Broad Jump | Vertical Jump | 3-Cone Drill | 20-Yard Shuttle | Bench Press |
| S | Craig Woodson | California | 4.45 | 1.53 | 127 | 36 | 4.3 | 13 |
Positives
- Offers good instincts and feel for plays developing — has good peripheral vision and feel for spacing
- Alignment versatility as a third safety in the nickel or playing as a second-level defender in dime packages
- Reliable wrap-up tackler with a career missed tackle rate in the single digits
Negatives
- Can be challenged when needing to trigger from flat-footed zones to attack route breaks
- Is a bit of a tweener from a skill set perspective. Plays better in the box and low to the LOS but is not overly physical presence
- Man-to-man coverage ability is modest
Background
Woodson is from Grand Prairie, TX, and played high school football for Grand Prairie HS. He was a productive 3-star consensus recruit at the prep level and also did track and field, competing in the triple jump. Woodson ultimately committed to Cal as a member of the team’s 2019 recruiting class. As a true freshman in 2019, he played in four games before taking a redshirt to preserve his four seasons of college eligibility.
Woodson retained his fourth season after 2020 as well due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the shortened season, he started half of Cal’s four games. In 2021, Woodson suffered a season-ending injury in camp and missed the entirety of the season.
He served as a three-year starter from 2022 to 2024. Woodson was named Third Team All-ACC in 2024 and culminated his college career with an accepted invitation to the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl.
Tale Of The Tape
Woodson is an interesting talent who offers some versatility to his role in the Cal secondary—much of that versatility should be translatable to the NFL level, too. His ability to fulfill run support, intermediate coverage, and pressure roles should afford Woodson some appeal to most defensive systems in varying roles.
As a coverage player, Woodson showcases good instincts for leveraging and has enough fluidity and foot speed to sink or drive on throwing windows in intermediate zones across the middle of the field or from a half-field assignment that allows him to key route combinations and break up the sideline. There have been some missed opportunities to convert passes defensed into turnovers and interceptions, but he’s gotten his hands on footballs in a variety of ways.
However, the ceiling for Woodson lies in zone coverage. He’s illustrated the ability to catch routes against slot receivers and mirror at the top of the stem, but he doesn’t play with the physicality you’d ideally like to see if he were to serve as a tight end eraser in man coverage. Additionally, his length is only sufficient and will further challenge his ability to play through the body and attack the football at the hands of bigger targets.
Woodson’s best reps in coverage are a byproduct of his eyes and wide vision cone in coverage. He’s a sharp player whose perception and anticipation are an asset in crowded areas of the field.
As a run defender, Woodson is a reliable player who offers the right mix of wrap-up tackling and gusto stepping into the box. He isn’t the biggest player, and he lacks some of the booming presence in his pads that other safeties may have.
Woodson takes good angles to fit from the second level and is a patient player to secure a wrap on the ball. His angles can be tested from deeper alignments to start the play, and the more traffic he needs to play through, the more variance you get.
He shows active hands to punch and can parlay off a block if he’s carrying momentum into his fit, but static challenges will test his play strength to play through the strike zone of climbing offensive linemen or skill players in space trying to crack on his position.
Woodson is a high-strain effort player who will endear himself to coaches despite not having game-changing physicality to impose on opponents. He leaves Cal with 450 career special teams reps, assuring he’ll have exposure to his most likely game-day contributions as a mid-round rookie safety trying to earn his way.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Woodson projects best as a split-field defender or depth safety who can play lower toward the line of scrimmage. Cover-3 heavy teams would benefit from having him serve as the rotation safety down onto the second level.
From such a role, he can effectively support the run and be protected from covering too much grass, which can amplify some of his weaknesses in coverage.
Grade: 71.50/100.00, Fifth Round Value
Big Board Rank: 153
Position Rank: SAF12
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