Seahawks Rule Out 2 CBs, Starting RT for Week 7

The Seattle Seahawks will be without three starters for the Week 7 matchup with the Atlanta Falcons.

Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle Stone Forsythe / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

The Seattle Seahawks received a relatively positive injury update two days prior to the team facing the Atlanta Falcons. But the Seahawks will still be missing a few key players in the matchup.

Cornerbacks Tre Brown and Riq Woolen didn't practice again Friday and have been ruled out versus the Falcons. Both cornerbacks are dealing with ankle injuries.

Starting right tackle Stone Forsythe will also not play because of a hand injury.

Former No. 9 overall pick Charles Cross will be in the lineup for Seattle at left tackle. But the hope for Atlanta is the missing starter on the opposite edge could help the Falcons generate a better pass rush.

The Falcons will enter Week 7 last in the NFL with 5 sacks in six games. Atlanta is also ranked in the bottom three in pressure rate and hurry percentage.

Even with Forsythe in the lineup, the Seahawks are 26th in the NFL with 3.2 sacks allowed per game. Only three teams in the league have yielded 3.3 or more sacks per contest this season.

On offense, Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins could look to exploit the Seahawks secondary missing two of its top three cornerbacks. Devon Witherspoon leads all Seattle cornerbacks in defensive snaps this season, but Woolen and Brown are second and third, respectively, at the position in snaps.

Woolen made the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 2022. He was tied for the NFL lead with 6 interceptions that season.

This year, he has 1 interception with 3 pass defenses. Woolen also had 13 combined tackles in the first five games of the season. He didn't play last week against the San Francisco 49ers because of his hamstring.

Brown has 19 combined tackles with 1 pass defense this season.

Although the Seahawks secondary will be thin, they will get back a key member of their defensive line. Rookie defensive tackle Bryon Murphy II fully practiced Friday and doesn't have an injury designation. He missed the past three games with a hamstring injury.

Murphy put the Falcons on notice this week, as he expressed an apparent bitterness that the team didn't select him at No. 8 overall in this past spring's NFL draft.

In addition to Forsythe, Woolen and Brown, Seahawks safety Jerrick Reed II is out for Sunday's game. But the rest of the players on Seattle's injury report, like Murphy, do not have an injury designation.