Is Tariq Woolen affordable to the Seahawks? Cornerbacks Preview

Teams that find one elite cornerback tend to get rid of any others who cost money

If you had to prioritize the position groups on defense from most important to least, where would cornerbacks fall on that list?

The argument for cornerbacks being high on the list is that in a “passing league”, they are the ones responsible for covering the best or second-best athletes on the offense. Here’s a quick breakdown by ThrowDeepPublishing:

Whether in man or zone coverage, the passing attack will often target the cornerbacks, and some of the greatest one on one duels and rivalries in football have been between a wide receiver and a cornerback.

In man coverage, the cornerbacks job is to cover the wide receiver in what is often a one on one situation. The wide receiver has a planned route with his quarterback, and will line up with a plan to beat the cornerback to the spot he needs to get to in order to receive the football.

The cornerbacks job is to mirror every move that receiver makes and manage to stay with him until the play is over. If he loses him, it can result in a big gain for the offense, and it is those elements that make the cornerback position one of the hardest in football to play.

Any mistake made will be capitalized on and easily result in a touchdown for the opposition. The cornerback goes into every play at a disadvantage. The wide receivers know exactly where they’re going and have practiced it thousands of times to make sure the rhythm is perfect. The cornerback has no idea and has to carefully watch the footwork of the receiver while backpedaling as the play takes shape.

If I have learned anything from watching videos by MatchQuarters’ Cody Alexander this offseason, it’s that calling, reading, and executing defensive plays is super complicated. It becomes less complicated when it is your livelihood to know the rules, but I would not be surprised if many of the NFL’s best athletes at cornerback don’t fully comprehend Xs/Os and get confused during games.

Anybody who can wear the green dot (calls defensive plays on the field) in addition to being a top-tier athlete is indeed a special football player. Think Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith or safety Kyle Hamilton. Special players.

Although Devon Witherspoon is not likely to be a green dot player because that usually goes to a linebacker or safety (Ernest Jones IV), he falls into the rare company of Smith and Hamilton. Witherspoon is an exceptional athlete, a heady player, a versatile corner who can play inside or outside (Marlon Humphrey is maybe the only other CB in the league who does that right now), and the type of teammate who holds others accountable.

I believe teams should build from the inside→out, i.e. make sure you have a good offensive line before you have good receivers, and make sure you can defend the middle of the field before investing a ton in your cornerbacks.

But if the GM is going to build the team outside of those parameters, or if the board happens to fall in such a way where the team has no other choice as it did in 2023, Devon Witherspoon is clearly the type of exceptional cornerback that you DO take in the top-10 without hesitation.

Yes, Jalen Carter could be that “What if?” behind Witherspoon for years to come, but given the information that we had at the time it made sense to take a prospect who was entirely clean over one who had a couple of major question marks.

That being said and leaving Witherspoon’s value to Seattle’s defense out of it for now, there is also an argument to be made that corners are the least-valuable players on a modern defense. Unless you have a true number one cornerback, as in a top-3 corner, who changes the dynamic of half of the field on every play, most defensive coordinators have managed success with merely “good” players.

Consider the Eagles. They won the Super Bowl with two rookie corners who had been playing college football (Toledo and Iowa) a year earlier.

They also had Darius Slay, a 33-year-old who Philadelphia was comfortable with releasing after the season.

The Eagles beat a Chiefs team that does have Trent McDuffie, but Kansas City was okay trading L’Jarius Sneed after winning back-to-back Super Bowls and they didn’t even replace him with anybody. Without a good defensive coordinator like he had in KC, Sneed’s tenure with the Titans has been a disaster thus far.

Do top tier defensive coordinators like Steve Spagnuolo and Vic Fangio neeed elite cornerbacks? Or do they make elite cornerbacks?

If Mike Macdonald is a top tier defensive coordinator, does he need Tariq Woolen to be elite? Or have the Seahawks avoided any serious investment at cornerback in the past two years because Macdonald has told Schneider that it isn’t necessary?

Since firing Pete Carroll, the Seahawks have only drafted two cornerbacks (Nehemiah Pritchett, D.J. James on day three in 2024), didn’t pick a single one this year*, and they were fine waiting all the way until July before signing Shaquill Griffin, who has so far missed almost all of training camp…and I haven’t heard anyone panicking about it.

*We could call Nick Emmanwori a “big nickel” but that’s a different ballgame.

Other teams don’t seem to be that worried about the cornerback position either. Unless they just don’t seem to think that college is producing many good ones, the 2025 cornerback class was mostly overlooked on draft day:

• Jahdae Barron (20th) and Maxwell Hairston (30th) were the only first round picks

• That’s as many first round CBs as first round RBs, but Ashton Jeanty was a top-10 pick

• There were as many safeties drafted in the top-46 (2) as there were corners

It was the same story in free agency. The top cornerback to switch teams, Carlton Davis, got $18 million per season from the Patriots. We see safeties and linebackers get that much, while $18 million would be an insult to the top defensive tackle or edge rusher.

Again, top-tier players like Sauce Gardner or Derek Stingley are exceptions and Witherspoon could be the next one to get $30 million per season when he becomes extension eligible in 2026. But it is also clear that if you have someone like Gardner, Stingley, McDuffie, or Witherspoon, AND you’re paying him, do you need another cornerback at a high price tag?

The message being sent by most teams is: No.

The Chiefs traded Sneed. The Jets jettisoned D.J. Reed. The Eagles cut Slay.

Teams that find great cornerbacks in the draft seem to get rid of veterans that would otherwise seem to have important starting roles and then hand those jobs to a nobody.

Luckily for the Seahawks, they are under no pressure to make a decision on Tariq Woolen based on Witherspoon or Witherspoon based on Woolen until next year and they get to base those decisions on what happens this season. Does Woolen make Macdonald’s defense click or is he just a really fortunate 99th percentile athlete who could be replaced with a 90th percentile athlete for much cheaper?

Because Seattle does have Witherspoon and he’s more likely to be extended than Woolen, that’s the biggest cornerback question going into 2025.

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Corner Preview: Excitement/Worry Levels

Devon Witherspoon: 10/10 worth the pick

Yeah there are reasonable questions to be asked about whether or not corners are ever worth top-5 picks, but Witherspoon is more than “just a cornerback”. Seattle’s defense seemed too soft prior to his arrival and lacked players that would lead by example in the years since K.J. Wright left.

Witherspoon’s college defensive coordinator said before the draft that the scary thing about him was that he was being held back by school at Illinois and that he would only get better when he could give 100% of his attention to football. The coach wasn’t wrong.

Witherspoon was relatively new to football when he was recruited to Illinois and he’s such a natural fit for the game…physically, mentally, and spiritually.

It’s easier to imagine a season in which Witherspoon gets even better with Macdonald than worse and he was already one of the top all-around secondary players in the league last year.

The two Seahawks most-likely to be named All-Pro in 2025 are Witherspoon and Leonard Williams. It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that these players were also top-10 picks.

Tariq Woolen: 8/10 curious about what happens next

Many Seahawks fans take offense to the suggestion that Woolen may not be worthy of a long-term investment by the team, which makes sense to me because rarely do players PRODUCE at such a high level in their first three seasons and not get extended, or at least traded for a good return.

However, based on what I outlined during the intro, I still think Woolen has an uphill battle to climb to get a second contract in Seattle. And contrary to logic, an extension could be even less likely if Woolen has a great season. That’s exactly what happened to Sneed.

Consider the investments that the Seahawks have already put into the secondary:

• A 5th-year option for Witherspoon in 2027 (estimate $21-$22 million) plus a probable extension in the $25-$32 AAV range

• Already extended Julian Love

• Drafted Nick Emmanwori at the top of the second round (traded up too)

• Undecided what to do with 2026 free agent Coby Bryant

If Woolen finds out that his market value is $24 million per season, and Seattle is already preparing to give Witherspoon an extension at $30 million per season, is that a good investment? The highest-paid cornerback ROOM in the entire NFL, the Steelers with Jalen Ramsey, is making $49.6 million in 2025.

That’s $5 million less than only two corners on Seattle’s future roster based on my speculative estimates of something that COULD happen.

When we’re talking about a potential $60 million cornerback room in 2027 or 2028, that’s just not ideal business. The two teams with the largest future investments at the cornerback position, the Jags and Jets, also happen to be two of the worst in the NFL.

In a salary capped league I think the Seahawks have to choose between Witherspoon and Woolen and based on what we know to date, wouldn’t they pick Witherspoon? If Woolen has a good season and Seattle decides they can’t afford him, a tag-and-trade is an option.

And 9 more (Josh Jobe, Shaquill Griffin, Nehemiah Pritchett, Damarion Williams, Shemar Jean-Charles, Tyler Hall, Isas Waxter, Kam Alexander, Keydrain Calligan)

It’s probably a reach to expect anyone other than the first four names to contribute on defense in a meaningful way barring a lot of injuries.

Griffin has been away from the team for most of camp dealing with matters. He has played for four different teams in the past three seasons.

Jobe is still playing with starters in practice after starting six games last year, but could be replaced by Griffin going into the regular season.

We haven’t heard much or seen much from Jean-Charles, which isn’t that surprising given how little he’s played over the past four seasons (193 snaps).

But again, it doesn’t really seem to matter to most teams that their third, fourth, and fifth corners could be “NFL players” in the debatable sense. NFL players for how much longer? With how many snaps? If Seattle’s front office has hit their marks in the offseason, these players won’t have major roles.

And even if they do, it seems you can mask these deficiencies in other areas of the defense. Although there’s always some room for debate on that.

Seaside Joe 2347