‘He’s phenomenal’: Rookie Tariq Woolen wowing Seahawks, even if he doesn’t exactly know it
Just think how good he may be when Tariq Woolen actually knows what he’s doing.
“He don’t even know what he’s doing half the time,” Seahawks defensive teammate Jordyn Brooks said. “He’s just playing on raw talent right now.”
The captain of the defense doesn’t even give the rookie Woolen half the time.
“I don’t think he understands what he’s doing right now,” Pro Bowl safety Quadre Diggs said. “You just see him and all he does is give the ‘thumbs up.’ Like, ‘Tariq, good play!’”
He pantomimed Woolen’s thumbs-up replies.
“He’s oblivious to what’s going on.”
What’s going on is Woolen challenging Seahawks records and becoming one of the better cornerbacks in the NFL — after just six games of his debut season. And just three years after he first played the position, after switching from wide receiver at Texas-San Antonio.
Turns out, being 6 feet 4 with 4.26-second speed in the 40-yard dash beats experience. Even in the NFL.
In the fourth quarter of Seattle’s 19-9 throttling of the Arizona Cardinals at Lumen Field Sunday, Woolen became the first Seahawk to intercept a pass in four consecutive games since Super Bowl Brandon Browner in 2011. Woolen’s just the third rookie in the NFL do that since 2000. He leads the league in interceptions through six games.
He’s now tied for second-most picks by a Seahawks rookie cornerback in a season. After well less than half this season.
He also recovered a fumble inside the red zone that fellow rookie cornerback Coby Bryant forced on Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray. That was in the third quarter, when the Cardinals were threatening Seattle’s 12-3 lead.
What else has Woolen done in his first six NFL games? He’s returned one of his interceptions for a touchdown, two games ago at Detroit. He’s blocked a field goal that teammate Michael Jackson returned for an 86-yard touchdown. That was last month at San Francisco, the Seahawks’ only points in a 27-7 loss.
“That boy,” safety Ryan Neal said. chuckling last week after Woolen’s third interception in as many game, in Seattle’s 39-32 loss at New Orleans, “he’s like watching a Rottweiler pup running around the house and he’s bumping into (stuff) and he doesn’t know how big he is. It’s like that.
“Watching him do what he does, he just doesn’t even understand. It’s like, you are so damn special you don’t even know it.
“And I love the way his attitude is. Just calm, cool, collected, not getting a big head. I mean, he’s always looking for the ball.”
Woolen entered the weekend with one of the league’s lowest passer ratings against for a cornerback, 35.8.
“I mean, teams are going to learn,” Neal said. “You keep tryin’ that man...”
Murray and the Cardinals learned Sunday.
Tariq Woolen’s latest pick
Murray had Marquise Brown sprinting on a go route down the left sideline on fourth and 11 in the fourth quarter and Seattle leading 19-9. Woolen easily stayed with Brown on the sprint. Then he out-leaped the 5-9 Brown for Murray’s pass and intercepted it while falling.
“I was kind of surprised, because throughout the whole game, it was a quiet game; ‘Is a pass going to come?’” Woolen said.
“I had seen that Kyler Murray and Marquise Brown did a signal, or something like that (he then pantomimed speaking into a phone). And just knowing who Marquise Brown is, and the situation it was, he’s going to have to go deep. So I just made sure I stayed on top the whole route and I just made a play on the ball.”
Diggs was shaking his head at Woolen’s latest interception. Not just at the rookie’s skill, but at the Cardinals’ choice to throw at him.
“I mean, I don’t know why you would try a 6-4 corner that runs a 4.2,” Diggs said.
“It’s like even if you throw a perfect ball he’s going to be right there, because he’s so tall, so long.
“I mean, he’s phenomenal.”
Immediately after his latest pick, Woolen raced through the near, south end zone to celebrate with Seahawks fans. They were roaring at their new, now-almost-weekly hero on a defense that has needed a few this season.
“The one last week, he comes back on a comeback. This one was a deep ball they tried to throw over the top of him,” Carroll said.
“He’s comfortable now. He’s feeling it. And so he’s capable...those aren’t hard plays for him to make. He’s just in the right place. And he’s so dynamic as an athlete, he can get up and get off the ground on the high ball, and you really can’t contest him.”
Pete Carroll’s choice paying off
Woolen continues to validate Carroll’s decision in mid-August to roll with Woolen as his starting right cornerback from the first preseason game. That’s nine games earlier than another tall, long, converted college wide receiver started for Carroll and the Seahawks as a rookie in 2011.
Richard Sherman did OK for Seattle after that decision.
Woolen himself is plus-5 in turnovers for the Seahawks. Seattle is plus-2 on the season, so they would be in the negative without him.
In more ways than one.
“One thing I wanted to make sure, is just to get the ball. I feel like in the NFL, it’s about getting that ball out and getting it to the offense,” Woolen said. “That’s one thing I’ve been trying to do, is to give the offense as many opportunities to score as they can.”
His four interceptions for Seattle are two more than he had in his college career at UTSA, where coaches moved him from wide receiver to cornerback in 2019.
He acknowledged that, yeah, “some” of what Diggs and Brooks are saying about him not knowing what he’s doing out there and relying on pure talent is true.
“I just embrace it, because it’s kind of true,” Woolen said. “But I’ve just been trying to gain a lot of knowledge about the game. Just situations, and the different little things that go into it that help you better as a player. I feel like I’ve been doing that from the time I got here until now.
“I was blessed with the athletic ability. So when those two come together, and you know what you can do, it slows the game down a lot for you.
“And it’s been slowing down week after week.”
This story was originally published October 16, 2022 at 7:06 PM.
