The Seattle Seahawks defense is still as fearsome and suffocating as ever, even though they lost three key contributors in free agency. Cornerback Riq Woolen went to the Philadelphia Eagles on a one-year deal, edge rusher Boye Mafe inked a three-year contract with the Cincinnati Bengals, and safety Coby Bryant signed his own three-year deal with the Chicago Bears. With Bryant shelved for potentially the entire season due to a knee injury, that leaves Mafe and Woolen as the notable ex-Seahawks from
the Super Bowl defense who’ve been getting snaps on other rosters.
Through the first two months of the regular season, Mafe and Woolen’s teams are trending in opposite directions, and their respective performances match the trends.
If Mafe was thought to be a solid pass rusher whose sack productivity was not consistent in Seattle, he’s making his presence felt in a revamped Bengals defense. Here’s a report from Cincy Jungle’s Jason Garrison following the Bengals’ blowout win over the Baltimore Ravens.
Boye Mafe
In a matchup that was set up as a “Trey Hendrickson Revenge” game, it was Boye Mafe who made all the noise. The Bengals did a good job of keeping Hendrickson away from Burrow, often lending Orlando Brown Jr. help. The Ravens, on the other hand, were incapable of keeping Mafe out of the backfield. He ended up with two sacks, but was chasing Huntley around often.
Mafe has 4.5 sacks, six quarterback hits, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and (per NextGenStats) a career-best 17.6% pressure rate. His 14 quick QB pressures—these are pressures inside of 2.5 seconds—matches his 2025 total and in almost half the snaps of his final season in Seattle. The Bengals are 4-2 and have a super favorable schedule to return to the playoffs. Cincinnati’s defense may not be elite yet, but it’s no longer a laughing stock, which goes a long way toward helping Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense. Mafe has been a major contributor to the turnaround.
The same cannot be said for the Philadelphia Eagles and Riq Woolen. Philadelphia’s once elite defense has sharply fallen, and Monday night’s 38-21 loss against the Dallas Cowboys exemplified the collapse of Vic Fangio’s unit to (at best) mediocre. Philadelphia’s secondary is collectively struggling, and after a strong start to the season, Woolen’s “prove-it” deal is steadily turning south.
From Bleeding Green Nation’s Joseph Santoliquito:
Riq “Reek” Woolen had himself a game. He completely lost CeeDee Lamb with 12 seconds left in the first half for a 30-yard completion to the Eagles’ nine-yard line. Woolen was fortunate Lamb lost his balance and had to crawl out of bounds. The Cowboys had to settle for an Aubrey 27-yard field goal (3 points thanks to Woolen). The Cowboys scored on four of five drives in the first half. Woolen ran away from adversity, he declined to speak after the game.
Woolen did not have a good game. On a third-and-nine on the Cowboys’ first drive of the second half, he was flagged for holding, giving the Cowboys a new set of downs. He was later burned on the same drive by Ryan Flournoy for a 16-yard completion on a first-and-10 to the Eagles’ 27. On the same drive, Woolen was smoked by Lamb in the corner of the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown and a 28-21 Cowboys’ lead with 1:30 left in the third quarter (11 points thanks to Woolen after Prescott’s two-point conversion).
Woolen was “credited” with 111 yards allowed when targeted, one of the worst performances of his career.
Woolen only allowed five catches for 45 yards in Weeks 1-3. Over his last four games he’s given up 17 catches (on 27 targets) for 296 yards and 2 touchdowns. And lest you think his issues with penalties have subsided, he’s been flagged six times for pass interference, illegal contact, or defensive holding. Woolen leads the Eagles in penalties committed.
We’ve discussed to death the impact of Kenneth Walker on the Kansas City Chiefs, but on the defensive side of the ball we’ve seen that the performance of the cornerback room has not dropped off since Woolen’s departure. The edge rushing group probably could use Mafe right now given how much has been put on the plates of Derick Hall, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Uchenna Nwosu this season, but at $20 million/year he was highly unlikely to be retained.
While Mafe is prepping for a playoff push in Cincinnati, the Eagles could face a fire sale, and it wouldn’t be surprising at this point if Woolen is a potential trade piece as their disastrous season shows no signs of being recoverable.
