The Seattle Seahawks have established themselves as one of the top teams in the NFL early in the 2025 campaign, as they pushed their record to 5-2 in Week 7 by taking down the Houston Texans on Monday Night Football. With the trade deadline quickly approaching, the Seahawks are expected to be buyers, as they look to improve their odds of making a deep playoff run this year.
However, Seattle also has a couple of guys on its roster who could actually end up getting dealt to another team. The biggest name of the bunch is starting cornerback Riq Woolen, who has seen his name involved in trade rumors for several weeks now. And with the deadline quickly approaching, Woolen has quietly emerged as one of the top trade candidates across the entire league.
Riq Woolen Drawing Interest Ahead of Trade Deadline
A fifth-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, Woolen was one of the surprise success stories as a rookie, as he led the league with six interceptions (one of which he returned for a touchdown). Add 63 tackles, 16 pass deflections, and one fumble forced to his stat line, and Woolen ended up earning Pro Bowl honors in the first year of his career.
Since then, though, things haven’t gone as smoothly for Woolen. He regressed pretty drastically in 2023, and while he looked better in 2024, he isn’t a great fit in new head coach Mike Macdonald’s defensive scheme. A big, physical cornerback, Woolen excels when he’s playing man coverage on the outside, but Seattle has run more zone under Macdonald’s watch since he arrived in town last season.
As a result, multiple execs across the league believe that Woolen could get traded ahead of the deadline. While he’s still started all six games he’s played in this season, opposing quarterbacks have a passer rating of 91.8 when targeting Woolen in coverage, which is the worst mark of his career. With free agency looming for Woolen, he was recently labeled the fourth-best trade candidate in the NFL with the deadline drawing near.
“Multiple league execs have Woolen earmarked as a strong trade candidate leading into the deadline,” Jeremy Fowler wrote for ESPN. “‘They’ve been wanting to move him for a while,’ one executive said. ‘He doesn’t fit what [Mike Macdonald] wants to do.’ Woolen would be best served going to a team that can utilize his man-coverage traits. One potential hurdle to a deal: Seattle’s other starting corner, Devon Witherspoon, has had a difficult time staying healthy this season.”
Should the Seahawks Trade Riq Woolen?
GettyThe Seahawks could explore trading cornerback Riq Woolen.
Trading Woolen isn’t as simple as it may seem. While he isn’t a perfect fit in the Seahawks’ scheme, he’s still a talented, starting-caliber cornerback, which means that the team’s asking price for him is going to be fairly high. With only Nehemiah Pritchett and Derion Kendrick behind the team’s starting cornerback trio on the depth chart, too, Seattle may not be able to make a deal involving Woolen without bringing another cornerback to town.
Devon Witherspoon’s injury woes certainly don’t make this situation any easier for the Seahawks’ front office, but if the team doesn’t intend on signing Woolen to a long-term contract in the near future, moving on from him could end up being the most logical path forward. Regardless of what ends up happening, Woolen’s status will be worth keeping tabs on over the next few weeks.
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