Seattle Seahawks want to get Riq Woolen “back on track” after a slow start

Riq Woolen hasn’t exactly having a bad season, but he hasn’t produced nearly as much as he did during his incredible rookie campaign.

The Seattle Seahawks are banking on Woolen to regain his form after missing the offseason due to a knee injury.

After making waves upon his arrival in the Pacific Northwest, Riq Woolen had one of the best rookie seasons in Seattle Seahawks history the previous season. He emerged as the team’s most recent day three choice who went on to become an immediate sensation.

Midway through his college career, Woolen switched from receiver to cornerback, and was drafted in the fifth round out of UTSA. Despite this, he was seen as a significant project when he first entered the league. But with coach Pete Carroll’s guidance, he quickly became a day one starter and enjoyed success, largely because of his exceptional natural gifts of sub-4.3 speed and excellent length at 6-4 with 33 5/8-inch arms.

Drawing on his experience as a receiver, Woolen intercepted six passes to tie for the NFL lead. At one point, he did so for Seattle, intercepting a pass in four straight games. High expectations were set for the burgeoning talent going forward as he recorded 10 pass breakups, three fumble recoveries, a Pro Bowl selection, and votes for All-Pro consideration. He also finished third in the Defensive Rookie of the Year voting.

But Woolen hasn’t yet regained his supremacy in shutting down opponents in the first eight games of his sophomore campaign. Despite playing in seven of those games, he has only allowed three touchdowns in coverage and only intercepted one pass thus far while recording three pass breakups, according to Pro Football Focus. When quarterbacks target him, they have a passer rating of 102.3, which is nearly 35 points higher than in 2022.

Before Wednesday’s practice, Carroll made sure to remind reporters that Woolen was recovering from knee surgery and missed the most of Seattle’s offseason program and training camp. This was in response to their question about the rookie defender’s performance thus far.

“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 regarding Woolen. “He’s back to moving and running pretty well. It is annoying to watch him lose some plays that he had control over.”

Carroll stated there’s “no question” missed time placed Woolen behind the eight ball a little bit when the season started in September, despite the fact that Woolen’s elite speed has returned and he is now fully fit. Even though he was a Pro Bowl rookie, he has only been a cornerback for less than four years, so he still has a lot to learn and lost precious on-field time 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,” said Carroll. “He required that time to regain his legs, his second-year mindset, and all of the good things. He could not have had that. We are still in the process of getting back on track to be really astute and correct in all of his selections and choices.”

Though Woolen hasn’t had many interceptions or pass breakups thus far, he has, in some ways, improved from his rookie campaign. He only has three tackle misses this season, which is a decrease in his errors when it comes to stopping the run and hauling down receivers after the catch. As a rookie, he missed an astounding 14 tackles last year.

As a cover cornerback, Woolen has kept opposition receivers to less than 10 yards per reception and just 65 yards after the catch, despite allowing a completion percentage that is about 12 percent higher than it was a year ago and more than half his total touchdowns from the previous campaign. Compared to his outstanding rookie campaign, in which he gave up more than 15 yards per catch and 233 yards after the reception, both of those stats would be noticeably better.

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.