Street cred soaring: Seahawks rookie Tariq Woolen is NFC defensive player of the week
Tariq Woolen entered this debut season fully expecting opponents to target him specifically.
Six games in, he’s proving that’s a poor idea.
Woolen’s reputation and play have his reputation soaring around the NFL. He’s becoming known for some of the best performances in the league by any defensive player, for any team.
The Seahawks’ rookie cornerback is the latest NFC defensive player of the week, the NFL announced Wednesday. That is for his interception, fumble recovery, five tackles and just plain shine again last weekend in Seattle’s 19-9 throttling of the Arizona Cardinals.
“That’s boy’s the truth,” Seahawks defensive lineman Poona Ford said after the game.
Woolen is challenging Seahawks records and becoming one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL, just six games into his career. It’s 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.
Woolen became the first Seahawk to intercept a pass in four consecutive games since Brandon Browner in 2011. Woolen’s just the third rookie in the NFL do that since 2000. He co-leads the league in interceptions through six games with Buffalo All-Pro safety Jordan Poyer.
Woolen has in his first six NFL games doubled his total number of interceptions for his entire college career at UTSA.
“It’s crazy,” he said.
Woolen is tied with Richard Sherman (2011) and John Harris (1978) for second-most picks by a Seahawks rookie cornerback in a season — after well less than half this season. Michael Boulware (2004) and Earl Thomas (2010) both had five as rookies for Seattle.
Woolen is intercepting passes on go routes, as against Marquise Brown last weekend. He’s intercepting throws on sideline comeback routes, at New Orleans two games ago. He cut in front of stunned Saints receiver Tre’ Quan Smith.
Woolen 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 last weekend, when the Cardinals were threatening Seattle’s 12-3 lead.
What else has the 23-year-old Woolen done in his first six pro games? He’s recovered a second fumble. 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 after Woolen’s third interception in as many games, in Seattle’s 39-32 loss at New Orleans two weeks ago, “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 last weekend with one of the league’s lowest passer ratings against for a cornerback, 35.8. Then Arizona’s Murray had a 33.9 rating throwing at Woolen Sunday.
NFL Rookie Watch noted online: “Kyler Murray would have had a better passer rating throwing the ball into the dirt every play rather than throwing at Woolen.”
For the season, quarterback’s passer rating throwing at Woolen is 35.4. That’s the third-lowest in the league among all defensive back who have started all their team’s games (Philadelphia’s James Bradberry 30.3 and Darius Slay 31.0).
“I remember in college, my first interception. I had a broken arm—I had a whole cast and a club on. I thought,’ I like this feeling, I want to do it a lot more,’” Woolen said. “In college, teams really didn’t try me as much, but also I didn’t really have as much confidence as I do now in myself. When I got the second one, I had both hands. 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. That’s one thing I’ve been trying to do, is to give the offense as many opportunities to score as they can.”
This story was originally published October 19, 2022 at 8:14 AM.
