Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen takes brutal shot at NFL fans on social media

Riq Woolen never seemed like the kind of player that listened to fans. He mostly just played and didn't say much. Sure, the Seattle Seahawks cornerback could be funny at times of social media, but he never seemed to take aim on football fans who Woolen felt disrespected him. That is until this week when a fan called Woolen out for his 2023 tackling issues.

To be sure, being in the public eye is probably a weird thing, especially for someone who plays a sport for a living. If someone is a musical performer or some other kind of artists, relating to love and hate on social media is simply part of the gig because they are mostly directly making their money from fans. Players get paid by teams and the teams make money off fans; there is a slight difference.

Woolen was ranked at number 91 on the NFL Network's top 100 players of 2024. Last year in his rookie season, he was ranked 76. No matter if he had been ranked number 100, that is still a special ranking because being perceived as one of the 100 best players in the NFL means the player has done something extremely well.

Seahawks CB Riq Woolen lowers himself to troll level on social media

Woolen is capable of elite pass coverage and he had a league-leading six interceptions in 2022. His quarterback rating allowed was a fantastic 48.7. Even in 2023, he had a solid QBR allowed of 79.8. His problem last year was tackling which he seemed to be fearful of doing at times after he hurt his knee in last year's minicamp. He whiffed on 7.4 percent of his tackle attempts as a rookie but 14.5 last year.

A football fan - probably more like a social media troll, but Woolen chose to respond, and that legitimized the post - on X/Twitter posted a video of Woolen missing a tackle as a reaction to the cornerback's NFL Network ranking and wrote, "That's the guy with the tackling phobia, right?"

Woolen reposed the tweet and wrote (after several laughing emojis), "(T)hanks 2 years in the league and back to back on here. Voted by my peers and coaches thank you! Not by no fan on a couch."

What makes Woolen's tweet unfair is that he accidentally calls out fans (the same ones who spend good money on things such as the NFL's overpriced Sunday Ticket, some of which goes to the specific teams so that the teams can pay players such as Woolen) who haven't said anything negative about him but still watch Seahawks games religiously every week from their couches.

The truth is that the cornerback should have just taken the high road and ignored the hate. Not doing so will only cause others to try to get a rise out of him. He does need to work on his tackling, though.

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