Earlier this season, It looked like Riq Woolen’s days with the Seattle Seahawks were over. But Mike Macdonald repeatedly insisted that the beleaguered cornerback was playing better than it appeared. It certainly seems that Macdonald’s’ faith has been rewarded.
Riq Woolen, the once and now again Tariq Woolen, was the toast of the Emerald City in his spectacular rookie season. 16 pass breakups, six interceptions, and a passer rating allowed of just 48.7 will get you noticed.
Since that stellar season, when he should have been the Defensive ROY, the level of his play has dropped. His passer rating allowed over the past three years has still been decent, ranging from a low of 76.9 to 79.8 in his sophomore season.
But too often, Woolen has looked like more of a liability on the field. He was burned for the winning score by a backup tight end in Seattle’s season-opening loss to San Francisco, on a play that looked like he was simply too far out of position to react in time. But since then, he’s made a remarkable turnaround.
Seattle Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen is back, mostly
This may seem like odd timing to sing Woolen’s praises after he was held responsible for the Rams’ second touchdown, a one-yard Davante Adams catch in the first quarter. But that completely ignores that Woolen broke up the previous attempt to Adams with perfect coverage.
On the TD pass that worked, Woolen had virtually no chance as Matthew Stafford hit Adams in stride after he took one step to the inside.
Woolen didn’t slip and fall two plays earlier, allowing Kyren Williams to reach the Seattle one-yard line on fourth and one from the 35. That was Coby Bryant. Bryant had a solid game otherwise. That includes forcing a key fumble that got the ball back for Seattle after one of those brutal Sam Darnold interceptions.
As for Woolen, what had looked like timid play, especially in run support, is long gone. A quick look at Woolen’s grades on Pro Football Focus (subscription required) show how much his game has improved this year. I don’t believe PFF is always the greatest source of all football knowledge, but overall, they’re pretty darn reliable.
In the first three games this season, Woolen didn’t look much different from how he did last year. PFF grades of 37.4. 47.2, and 55.2. For comparison, Devon Witherspoon’s grades in his first three games were 66.0, 78.1, and 73.2. Woolen allowed nine completions on twelve targets in those three games, and only broke up one pass.
Since then, he’s only allowed completions on 14 of 31 attempts and has defended five passes. He also made six of his seven stops in this last set of games.
While the rumor mill was in overdrive, predicting that the Seahawks would trade Tariq for a guard, that never came to fruition. As brighter minds than mine have written, you can never have too many good cornerbacks. To my mind, the resurrection of Riq Woolen is complete.
