Seattle Seahawks Looking to Get Riq Woolen 'Back On Track' After Slow Start
Turning heads from his arrival in the Pacific Northwest, Riq Woolen enjoyed one of the best rookie seasons in Seattle Seahawks history a year ago, emerging as the latest day three pick transformed instant superstar for the franchise.
Drafted in the fifth round out of UTSA, Woolen broke into the league viewed as a substantial project after converting from receiver to cornerback midway through his college career. But under the tutelage of coach Pete Carroll, he found immediate success as a day one starter thanks in large part to his rare natural gifts with sub-4.3 speed and great length at 6-4 with 33 5/8-inch arms.
Leaning on his past receiver background, Woolen tied for the NFL lead with six interceptions, including picking off a pass in four consecutive games at one point for Seattle. He also produced 10 pass breakups and recovered three fumbles, finishing third in Defensive Rookie of the Year balloting, earning a Pro Bowl selection, and receiving votes for All-Pro consideration, creating lofty expectations for the rising star moving forward.
Eight games into his sophomore campaign, however, Woolen has yet to rediscover his rookie shutdown dominance. Playing in seven of those games, he only has intercepted one pass thus far while recording three pass breakups and per Pro Football Focus, he already has allowed three touchdowns in coverage and quarterbacks are posting a 102.3 passer rating when targeting him, which is nearly 35 points higher than 2022.
When asked to assess Woolen's play thus far prior to Wednesday's practice, Carroll made sure to remind reporters that the young defender missed most of Seattle's offseason program and training camp recovering from knee surgery.
"He’s had a solid start to it under the most difficult circumstances because of the injury that happened at the time that it did," Carroll said of Woolen. "He’s back to running really well and he’s moving well. He’s had some plays get away from him that are frustrating to see."
While his elite speed has returned and he's fully healthy now, Carroll said there's "no question" missed time put Woolen behind the eight ball a bit when the season opened in September. Considering he still only has been playing cornerback for less than four years, even after being a Pro Bowler as a rookie, he still has much to learn and lost invaluable on-field time for growth in the spring and early summer.
"Because he had the expectations that came off of last year, he was ready to take on the world and then he just gets abruptly stopped and operated on," Carroll remarked. "He needed that time to find his second-year mentality, legs, and all of that kind stuff. He wasn’t afforded that. We’re still in the load count of getting back on track to be really sharp and right on all of his decisions that he’s making and the choices that makes."
In some regards, despite the lack of interceptions and pass breakups to this point, Woolen has actually improved upon his rookie season. After missing a whopping 14 tackles last year as a rookie, he only has been charged with three misses this season, cutting down on his mistakes defending the run and bringing down receivers after the catch.
As a cover cornerback, while Woolen has allowed a completion rate nearly 12 percent higher than a year ago and more than half his touchdown total from last year, he has limited opposing receivers to under 10 yards per reception and only 65 yards after the catch. Both of those statistics would be significantly better than his standout rookie season when he allowed north of 15 yards per catch and 233 yards after the reception.
Continuing an inconsistent second season, Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen allowed a touchdown to Odell Beckham Jr. and missed a tackle on a long run by Gus Edwards in an ugly 37-3 loss to the Ravens.
© Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
But as Carroll pointed out, Woolen still has plenty of room to grow as a tackler, which was evidenced in a 37-3 blowout loss to the Ravens last Sunday. While he dragged down rookie running back Keaton Mitchell to prevent him from scoring a long touchdown in the fourth quarter, his coach called him out for trying and failing to punch the ball out on a 42-yard run by Gus Edwards to open the half instead of making a clean tackle, allowing the back to rumble deep into Seahawks territory.
"He didn’t make the right decisions on some of the tackles that he’s had opportunities to go for," Carroll said. "He tried knock out a ball last week and it wasn’t the right time for that."
Missed tackles and questionable pursuit angles aren't the only plays that a talented player of Woolen's caliber has frustratingly left on the field, either. After being an interception machine as a rookie and consistently making quarterbacks pay for testing him, the athletic cornerback has failed to capitalize on prime pick opportunities on multiple occasions this year.
As just one example, in a Week 8 home win over the Browns where he already had one pick earlier in the game, Woolen made a perfect jump on a telegraphed throw from quarterback P.J. Walker in the fourth quarter, giving himself a chance for a game-ending turnover. But the pass slipped through his grasp and bounced off his his chest, leading to the defender disappointingly putting his hands up on his helmet lamenting the dropped interception.
Earlier in the season, Woolen missed out on a possible pick-six opportunity against Daniel Jones and the Giants, again failing to corral an errant throw that he had a great beat on in coverage as the pass clanked off of his hands.
Still, Carroll isn't concerned about Woolen's somewhat slow start. Seeing the player settle in physically as the season has progressed after missing most of training camp and the preseason rehabbing, he expects the immensely talented cornerback to start finishing plays in coming weeks, especially with quarterbacks having to pick their poison between throwing at him, Witherspoon, or Tre Brown in a loaded secondary group.
Given the quality of players around him and Witherspoon's own fast start to his career, Woolen should expect opponents to keep testing him on the right side and Carroll has the utmost confidence he will start to cash in on those opportunities.
For the time being, Carroll and his coaching staff will continue to hammer home fundamentals and film study with hopes Woolen snaps out of his early season funk. With Sam Howell and the pass-heavy Commanders coming to town on Sunday, he should have ample chances to make his presence felt in coverage as he aims to round back into his prior playmaking form for the stretch run.
"Without question, his best is still here for him in this season. Getting comfortable and getting him back on track so none of those decisions show up in the game. Whether he misses an opportunity to close something off or to make a play on something. We’re working with him very closely to make sure that we keep working to maximize him. He’s got a lot out there ahead of him still.”
