The Seattle Seahawks’ new-look defense made a lot of impressive plays during their stifling season-opening performance against the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
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The most spectacular one likely belonged to cornerback Riq Woolen.
It came with less than six minutes to play, as Denver was looking to cut into Seattle’s 26-13 lead and mount a fourth-quarter comeback. With the ball just inside midfield, rookie quarterback Bo Nix rolled to the right on a play-action pass and targeted one-time Pro Bowl receiver Courtland Sutton.
Sutton, who had lined up on the left side of the field, was running a deep over route toward the right sideline. Woolen had lined up even farther to the left, giving Sutton inside leverage. As a result, Sutton was a step or two ahead of Woolen.
But with Woolen’s blazing speed, that didn’t matter.
Woolen broke on the route, caught up to Sutton with incredible quickness and jumped in front to snag an interception that ultimately helped seal the victory.
“What an incredible play,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said. “I mean, he had that guy man-to-man and ran all the way across the field on an over route, on a movement pass. I don’t know if you guys can find another play like that, ever. That’s just really hard to do. He’s one of the few people on this planet that can make that play.”
Seattle safety Julian Love, who also was in vicinity to make a play on the ball, was just as impressed.
“I was breaking on the ball,” Love said. “Like, my eyes got big. And out of nowhere, Riq is there and makes a play. That’s special. If you ask any defensive back in the league, that’s a one-on-one play. … He has pure speed. He’s probably the fastest DB in the league.”
That’s not an exaggeration.
During the 2022 NFL combine, the 6-foot-4 Woolen ran the 40-yard dash in a scorching 4.26 seconds. That’s tied for the sixth-fastest in NFL combine history and the fastest by a player over 6 feet tall.
“Defending that play is hard enough, but being able to get an interception on that play, … it was a pretty amazing feat,” former NFL linebacker Dave Wyman said Tuesday on Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob. “And he actually really made it look easy. … I’ll bet you there’s a lot of corners around the league that are looking at that going, ‘Man, that is a good play.'”
As a fifth-round pick out of Texas-San Antonio in 2022, Woolen burst onto the scene with a spectacular rookie campaign. Showcasing his rare combination of speed, length and athleticism, Woolen tied for the NFL lead with six interceptions that season and finished third in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting.
After suffering an offseason knee injury in 2023, Woolen experienced a bit of a sophomore setback last year that included some struggles in run defense and tackling. However, his coverage remained strong. And after drawing rave reviews for his performance in training camp and the mid-August joint practices with the Tennessee Titans, he entered this season looking poised for a bounceback campaign.
So far, so good.
In addition to his interception, Woolen also had two pass breakups. And according to Pro Football Focus, he surrendered just two catches for 17 yards on six targets.
“He looks like the guy we saw in his first season,” co-host Bob Stelton said on Wyman and Bob. “He was having a great preseason and then we wondered, ‘All right, is it going to carry over into the regular season?’ So far, game one, he looked like that guy we were all excited about in his rookie year.”
