The Seahawks--and Riq Woolen, in a contract year--have a Riq Woolen issue
The Seahawks — more specifically, Riq Woolen — have a Riq Woolen problem.
Other teams know it.
Sunday dawned with a report from the league-owned network “teams are monitoring Pro Bowl CB Riq Woolen as a possible trade target by the deadline,” per sources. That was from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
The sources that want that out are as interesting as the news of other teams “monitoring” Woolen.
When the Arizona Cardinals were frantically trying to rally from down two touchdowns Thursday night, the deepest passes Kyler Murray threw in the second half were at Woolen.
In the third quarter of what became a last-play win, with Seattle’s defense in command leading 17-3, the fourth-year cornerback lined up man to man across from Marvin Harrison Jr. outside left. Arizona’s top wide receiver ran a simple go route. Murray threw a pass to Harrison’s back shoulder. Woolen was right there, but he never turned his head to see the pass. That 16-yard completion set up a Cardinals field goal.
Later in the quarter Woolen was in press coverage against Michael Wilson outside left. At the snap Wilson simply ran straight past Woolen, whose 4.26-second 40-yard dash at the 2022 NFL scouting combine was the fourth-fastest ever and fastest for a player over 6 feet tall.
Woolen was about to give up a touchdown. So he just grabbed Wilson at midfield as the Cardinal zoomed past him. It was an obvious penalty for defensive pass interference.
Midway through the fourth quarter with Seattle leading 20-6, Woolen lined up outside left one on one with Xavier Weaver. The Cardinals again loved that matchup. Arizona’s undrafted rookie wide receiver in 2024 ran a straight go route outside Woolen. Woolen stayed facing the receiver. He never turned to see Murray’s pass coming at him. Woolen also grabbed Weaver on the top of both shoulders as the ball arrived near the goal line. Another easy pass-interference call.
The Cardinals turned that first down into a touchdown. That cut the lead to 20-13 with 5:50 left, and set up a wild finish. This season through four games Woolen has given up big plays to and committed penalties on the 49ers’ Ricky Pearsall, San Francisco’s third-string tight end, Pittsburgh’s DK Metcalf, and now multiple Cardinals.
He’s been penalized six times in four games. That’s the league’s second-most flags against one player; only Kansas City offensive tackle Jawaan Taylor (seven) has more. Woolen’s fouls: two for pass interference, one for illegal contact, one for holding, one for illegal use of the hands and one face-mask foul. First downs galore.
The plays Thursday night at Arizona were similar to what Woolen gave up in the opening game Sept. 7 against San Francisco. That included when Jake Tonges, the 49ers’ third tight end, slipped past him and outjumped the 6-foot-4 cornerback in the end zone for the winning touchdown late in the game.
“I’ve got to attack the ball. That’s pretty much it,” Woolen said after that game.
That performance and loss had coach Mike Macdonald saying in response to whether Woolen would keep his starting job for week two: “We’ll see.”
Woolen started the next game, Seattle’s win at Pittsburgh, because two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Devon Witherspoon missed it with a bruised knee. He played well.
In the locker room after the game Woolen said: “Bro, I play cornerback, one of the hardest positions there is to play. So I just kept my head down.
“My teammates got all the faith in me. And I’ve got all faith in my teammates. So I’m not worried, at all.”
Friday, upon the 3-1 Seahawks’ early-morning return home, The News Tribune asked coach and defensive guru Mike Macdonald how Woolen is playing.
“Yeah, look, I think Riq’s...he’s playing really hard,” Macdonald said. “I think maybe he’s pressing a little bit with the situation going on.”
That situation includes the fact this is the final year of Woolen’s rookie contract. The jury is still way out where he will play next season, and for how much. Macdonald’s and general manager John Schneider’s thoughts of perhaps re-signing him for 2026 and beyond seem to get murkier almost by the game.
There are signs they may not keep him on the field in 2025.
Thursday night, Macdonald replaced Woolen on the game’s first defensive drive, and for five other plays, with safety D’Anthony Bell. Bell was on the practice squad when this week began. He was taking injured rookie Nick Emmanwori’s role of “big nickel,” the fifth defensive back to combat the Cardinals’ frequent use of multiple tight ends plus Murray and Arizona’s threat to run.
It was only six snaps. Yet it was noticeable that when Bell entered it was Josh Jobe, the 2024 castoff from Philadelphia who has excelled for Seattle, and not Woolen at outside cornerback opposite the invaluable Witherspoon.
Emmanwori missed his third consecutive game with a high-ankle sprain. The team’s medical and training staff will try to use the 10 days between games to get Emmanwori ready to play Tampa Bay (3-0) at Lumen Field Oct. 5.
“Anthony is doing a good job for us. He’s kind of filled in for Nick’s role. And when teams go a little bit bigger on us, and we want to get a little bit bigger at nickel,” Macdonald said. “That’s really the driving decision behind it.
“But he does a great job,” the coach said of Bell, a former starter for Cleveland that Seattle signed this offseason. “He’s really physical. He’s decisive. He plays hard tackles well. He’s been an asset for us.”
Woolen has at times been a liability.
Riq Woolen’s ups and downs
Then-Seahawks coach Pete Carroll drafted the converted wide receiver two years out of his position switch at the University of Texas-El Paso.
A former safety and a defensive backs coach early in his long career, Carroll loved Woolen’s height, his long arms and his speed. Though Woolen had little experience at the position, Carroll made him a starter from week one of his rookie season.
The entire league tested him. Woolen excelled. He tied for the NFL lead with six interceptions. He became the first Seahawks defensive player to make the Pro Bowl as a rookie since linebacker Lofa Tatupu in 2005, the franchise’s first Super Bowl season. Woolen was the first rookie in 22 years to intercept six passes and recover three fumbles in a season.
Carroll’s experiment wasn’t just working, it was flourishing.
Then in 2023 opponents began targeting the slender Woolen with wide running plays. His tackling continued to be a problem, and he had coverage mistakes.
Carroll benched him later that season. The head coach called out Woolen and safety Jamal Adams publicly that December for not playing 49ers pass plays as coached. Woolen responded later that month, December 2023, with a game-clinching hit on the final play to preserve the Seahawks’ three-point win at Tennessee.
When talking about Woolen’s big play at Tennessee two seasons ago, Carroll also invoked his primary coaching example, UCLA basketball legend John Wooden, who once said: “The bench is the coach’s best friend.”
Macdonald, in his first season replacing Carroll last December, also used that bench with Woolen. He sat his cornerback for the opening series of a late-season game against Minnesota that the Seahawks had to win to stay in playoff contention (they lost). The official explanation was Woolen had violated a team rule. It came a week after he had one of his worst games, in a home loss to Green Bay.
Friday, the TNT asked the defensive guru what the coaching points are for Woolen’s problems playing the ball at it arrives. “It does seem like some of those penalties are in the same kind of mode,” Macdonald said, “where it’s playing the deep ball when he’s in phase. Couple of them where you are put in a tough spot, where they looked like it was under thrown a little bit. That’s a hard situation for the corner.
“But we can keep putting him in more situations in practice, give him some more exposure to those plays so he has some more confidence when he’s put in those situations. Those are plays that he’s made throughout his career.
“We expect him to make them. He knows that he can make those plays, and so we’ll just go try to make it right at this point.”
This story was originally published September 26, 2025 at 11:55 AM.
