After last week’s rough 4th quarter performance against the San Francisco 49ers (notably giving up a 45-yard catch to Ricky Pearsall as well as the game-winning touchdown to Jake Tonges), many have speculated whether Riq Woolen will keep his job as a starter moving forward. Well were there is smoke, often there is fire.
Today, when asked by reporters if Woolen will start this weekend against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald responded with, “We’ll see.”
Macdonald’s statement
itself is eye opening. On Monday, when asked about fellow cornerback Josh Jobe’s performance on Sunday, Macdonald stated that Jobe, “played physical, played smart, played disciplined, and finished his plays right.” Macdonald additionally stated that Jobe is “competing for more snaps.”
Jobe notably had more snaps in last week’s game against the 49ers once Nick Emmanwori went down with an ankle injury. Once Emmanwori went down, Devon Witherspoon stepped into the nickel position, which caused Jobe to come in to play more outside cornerback snaps. In total Jobe had 61 snaps on defense to Woolen and Witherspoon’s 76 snaps. With Macdonald’s recent statements, it would make sense to see Jobe eat into more of Woolen’s snaps.
What that could look like will be telling. If Seattle runs nickel packages, it makes sense for Witherspoon to play the nickel and likely have Woolen and Jobe play the boundaries. However, if Seattle is not in nickel, and only plays two corners, will Jobe be across from Witherspoon instead of Woolen? Could Nehemiah Pritchett or Derion Kendrick even get some snaps over Woolen? It will be tough to tell how Macdonald plans to deploy the cornerback snaps until Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The timing of this potential benching is interesting as well. Seattle goes to Pittsburgh where they will see a familiar face, DK Metcalf. It would make sense that Seattle would want their biggest physical asset at cornerback (Woolen) to play against the athletic freak, Metcalf. However, if Woolen is not finishing plays like he needs to, Macdonald may be inclined to play Jobe or Witherspoon across from Metcalf instead.
Woolen, when asked about Macdonald’s comment stated “he’s the head man so whatever he say goes. I’m not going to go against it..” Woolen has been benched twice before (once last December due to a team rule violation, and once prior in 2023 by Pete Carroll due to tackling issues.) Time will tell if this Sunday will be the third benching of Woolen in as many years, as well as how long the benching will last; one snap, one drive, or perhaps more.
