One Seahawks defender sure looks like he has his mojo back in camp

Coach Mike Macdonald has to love what he's seen so far from one of the holdovers from last year's disappointing defense. That's great news for the player and even better news for the Seahawks.

The Seahawks' defense wasn't exactly up to Legion of Boom standards last season. The biggest issue wasn't the back end, not with the 31st-ranked run defense in the league. Yes, Julian Love and Devon Witherspoon made the Pro Bowl, but overall, the defensive backs could have been better. They still ranked in the bottom half of the league in passing yards allowed and interceptions.

With two Pro Bowlers in the defensive backfield, it should be obvious that other members of the squad underperformed last season. One player above all fits that description. No, I'm not talking about Jamal Adams. He never came close to matching his first spectacular season in Seattle. The reasons for that failure are a subject for a different time, though. No, I'm talking about another DB who made the Pro Bowl in his first season with the Hawks.

Seattle Seahawks CB Riq Woolen looks ready to play

While Adams had a pretty bad season, many would argue that cornerback Riq Woolen was even worse in 2023. I wouldn't go that far, but he certainly didn't play as well as he did in his terrific rookie campaign. His interceptions dropped from six to two, while his pass defenses fell from 16 to 11. His passer rating allowed climbed from an amazing 48.7 to 79.8. Granted, 79.8 is still pretty good.

As I wrote in my rankings of the Seahawks' ten best cornerbacks ever, Woolen wasn't exactly terrible, either. He allowed fewer yards per completion and fewer yards after the catch, and his passer rating allowed was still much better than either Tre Brown's (90.0) or Michael Jackson's (95.1).

As our own Lee Vowell pointed out in his callout on a recent social media faux pas by Riq, Woolen's biggest issue last year was his tackling. As a rookie, Tariq Woolen posted an excellent rate of just 7.4 percent. That nearly doubled last year to 14.5 percent. I agree with Lee; there was simply no need for Wollen to respond to the tweet in question. I do want to point out one peculiarity in the tweet, though:

Look at the video the "fan" posted to show Riq's supposed tacking phobia. Watch the play in full screen. Devon Witherspoon made the initial contact, while Woolen was covering Brandon Ayuk like one of those snuggling blankets. Riq immediately peeled off and broke toward the play, but before he could make contact, Tre Brown overran the play and accidentally screened off Woolen. Shawn Kemp couldn't have set a better screen. Yes, Woolen did tackle too tentatively at times. This wasn't one of them.

As far as we've seen in camp, Woolen certainly seems to have his rookie season mojo back. As Gregg Bell noted in The News Tribune, the Seahawks third-year corner hasn't shied away from the biggest challenge on the team - covering DK Metcalf. Woolen and Metcalf have battled throughout camp, something we needed to see.

As head coach Mke Mcdonald, said, “I see iron sharpening iron out there when he is going against the wide outs, especially DK. Just someone that (he’s) on a mission. He’s responding to the coaching and he’s bought in. And I think the players are excited about him."

Yes, we're excited too, coach. Seeing Woolen going on on one against an absolute beast like Metcalf has to warm the hearts of all the 12s. It certainly bodes well for a much-needed return to Pro Bowl form for number 27.

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