Tariq Woolen has arthroscopic knee surgery. Here’s when the Seahawks expect him back
The Seahawks’ out-of-nowhere Pro Bowl cornerback from last season is off to a slower start early this year.
Tariq Woolen had arthroscopic knee surgery Tuesday in Houston. It was to repair what an NFL source told The News Tribune was a minor issue and discomfort he noticed last week while training at team headquarters. The players were in phase two of their official offseason training program last week.
The TNT confirmed the team believes its rookie sensation in 2022 should be ready for the start of training camp. That begins the last week of July.
He will continue to miss the Seahawks’ organized team activities, plus the mandatory veteran minicamp June 6-8.
“I’m fine and surgery was smooth!!! Appreciate the love,” Woolen posted online on his Instagram social-media account Tuesday.
Woolen was absent Monday from the first practice of Seattle’s voluntary, nine OTAs at team headquarters in Renton.
Michael Jackson, who started on the left side opposite Woolen last season, was the first-team right cornerback Monday. Devon Witherspoon, Seattle’s first-round draft choice this month, was the first-team left cornerback to begin OTAs.
The Seahawks expect Woolen on the right again and Witherspoon, the league’s fifth-overall pick, on the left to be their starting cornerbacks for the 2023 season that begins Sept. 10 against the Los Angeles Rams.
Also Monday, the Seahawks agreed to sign back veteran free-agent cornerback Artie Burns. Burns signed for the 2022 season with Seattle, then injured his groin and lost out to Jackson and Woolen for the starting job in training camp. The team let the former Pittsburgh Steeler’s first-round pick’s contract expire after last season ended.
The Seahawks’ cornerbacks on the 90-man roster as OTAs continue the next couple weeks are Woolen, Witherspoon, Burns (who had yet to officially sign as of Tuesday midday), 2022 primary fifth, nickel defensive back Coby Bryant, 2021 draft pick Tre Brown, Isaiah Dunn and undrafted rookies Arquon Bush, Lance Boykin and James Campbell.
Woolen was a converted wide receiver at Texas-San Antonio. Seattle coach Pete Carroll saw his length at 6 feet 4 and long arms — not to mention Woolen’s wowing, 4.26-second speed in the 40-yard dash — and envisioned a Richard Sherman like standout in the Seahawks’ defense at cornerback.
Last year, Carroll was right.
He drafted Woolen in the fifth round. He then made Woolen Seattle’s starting right cornerback from his first training-camp practices. Carroll had Sherman come to preseason practices in August to tutor Woolen in the Seahawks defense and how to play cornerback in the league. Sherman taught Woolen the craft’s finer points, the mental side of the games and the profession.
Woolen proved to be an instant learner. In October he became the NFL defensive rookie of the month. He became the third rookie (with Jairus Byrd and Joe Haden) since 2000 with an interception in four straight games. He became the first rookie since 1970 to have an interception and fumble recovery in consecutive games.
In his first six NFL games Woolen doubled his total number of interceptions for his entire college career at UTSA. His six interceptions became a Seahawks rookie record. He broke Earl Thomas’ mark of five, in 2010, with another interception Dec. 4 when Seattle won at the Rams.
After that game, Woolen wept. He thought back to May 5, 2022. Woolen was in the third, long day of a three consecutive NFL draft parties at his parents’ home in Fort Worth, Texas. They sat watching and waiting — and waiting — through round one Thursday night. He was a long shot to get drafted there. They waited through rounds two and three Friday, where he expected to get picked. And they were still waiting Saturday morning through round four.
Still no calls, not from any NFL teams, anyway.
“I was getting calls from different people. And I was just embarrassed,” Woolen said last Dec. 4 outside the visitors’ locker room at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
His voice wavered as he wiped his face.
“I was just seeing corners go, corners go, corners go,” Woolen said. “And I was just like, ‘Dang! I’m supposed to be here!’”
Woolen set multiple goals for his Seattle debut season. He attained one for rookie of the month. He said he wanted to be rookie of the year. For that award, Woolen lost out to the more heralded Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, the New York Jets’ first-round pick..
Could Woolen be an All-Pro, a few years after UTSA coach Frank Wilson went up to Woolen at a practice and told him he was moving him from wide receiver to cornerback?
Last winter, Sherman said Woolen may become that.
“I mean, he may find himself on an All-Pro team,” Sherman said.
Woolen led the league in interceptions most of last season. He became Seattle’s first defensive rookie to make the Pro Bowl since linebacker Lofa Tatupu in 2005.
Woolen earned the honor in a vote of fans, NFL players and coaches. He joined Dallas’ Trevon Diggs, Philadelphia’s Darius Slay and Green Bay’s Jaire Alexander as the NFC’s Pro Bowl cornerbacks.
This year, his second NFL preseason is likely to start more slowly than his first.
This story was originally published May 23, 2023 at 12:12 PM.
