The Seattle Seahawks kept their encouraging start to the 2025 season going on Thursday, raising their record to 3-1 — but just barely. It took 11-year veteran kicker Jason Myers banging through a walk-off, 52-yard field goal — after Myers had missed a 53-yarder with 2:34 remaining.
Myers’ game-winning boot gave the Seahawks a 23-20 win over the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium in Glendale Arizona, squelching a furious comeback by Arizona who scored 14 unanswered points in the final seven minutes to tie the game at 20 in the Thursday Night Football matchup.
But even with the nail-biting victory, the Seahawks played far from a flawless game. One glaring weakness, according to 12th Man Rising writer Lee Vowell, was Seattle’s fourth-year cornerback Tariq “Riq” Woolen, a 2022 Pro Bowl pick as a rookie who placed third in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting only to see his performance largely fall of the table as his career went on.
Seattle Must Seek Woolen Replacement, Analyst Says
“The mercurial Seattle Seahawks cornerback, who was a fifth-round gem in his rookie season, has been inconsistent over his last three years,” Vowell wrote on Friday morning. “He is capable of brilliance, but he is also capable of taking a play or two off just when the Seattle Seahawks can’t afford it.”
Woolen’s problems started quickly in 2025, when he allowed two completions to the San Francisco 49ers, letting the ‘Niners to pull off a game-winning drive and win the season opener 17-13.
“Seattle can financially afford him in the future,” Vowell concluded. “But the team cannot afford to keep the cornerback on the team to reach maximum success.” Instead, the 12th Man Rising scribe opined, Seattle must be actively looking to cut ties with Woolen and seeking his replacement.
After Seattle’s Week 1 defeat, the 26-year-old’s lapses led Seahawks’ coach Mike Macdonald to give unmistakable signals that Woolen would need to win his starter’s job back from Josh Jobe — who signed as an undrafted free agent the same year Woolen was drafted and was a preseason standout for Seattle this year.
Witherspoon Injury Gave Woolen Brief Reprieve
An injury to two-time Pro Bowl corner and 2023 first-round pick Devon Witherspoon ended that controversy at least for two weeks. But Witherspoon was back on the field against the Cardinals and McDonald clearly preferred to pair him with Jobe than with Woolen.
“When the Seahawks had just two cornerbacks on the field throughout the first half, those two were usually Jobe and Witherspoon,” wrote Seattle Times correspondent Bob Condotta.
More Failures in TNF Clash
But in the Seahawks’ primary defensive alignment, with three corners on the field, Witherspoon moved to the slot with Woolen manning the wide side and Jobe on the short. That meant Woolen played 62 snaps — often with less-than-great results.
“Woolen showed why the Seahawks put his job up for competition as he was called for three penalties,” including one that led to an Arizona score, Condotta recounted.
“Woolen fails again in Week 4,” wrote Vowell in his Friday piece for 12th Man Rising. “He hasn’t been the same since his second season. He is now in the final year of his rookie deal and should be extra motivated to earn a new contract beginning in 2026 that pays him a lot of money. If anything, he is playing worse in coverage.”
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin
