Free agent cornerback Riq Woolen reached agreement Tuesday on a one-year deal worth up to $15 million with the Philadelphia Eagles, agent Jason Chayut told ESPN.
Woolen leaves the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks to join the Eagles, giving the team a candidate to start opposite Quinyon Mitchell.
Woolen is the first outside free agent the Eagles have reached agreement with since the free agent negotiating period began Monday.
He is the latest key player to leave the Seahawks in free agency, joining Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III, defensive end Boye Mafe and defensive back Coby Bryant.
Woolen, 26, capped an up-and-down four seasons in Seattle by helping the Seahawks win Super Bowl LX while serving as their No. 3 corner for most of the year.
Woolen is a supremely gifted player who, at his best, is one of the NFL’s better ball hawks. Since he entered the league as a fifth-round pick in 2022, his 41 pass breakups are tied for most in the league among all defenders while his 12 interceptions are fourth most among corners.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound Woolen has an elite blend of size and speed. He lit up the 2022 scouting combine when he ran a 4.26 in the 40-yard dash and recorded a 42-inch vertical jump. He nonetheless fell to pick No. 151 in large part because he had played only two full seasons at cornerback in college, having started his career at the University of Texas at San Antonio as a wide receiver. Viewed as a project pick, Woolen won a starting job out of camp as a rookie and made the Pro Bowl after tying for the league lead with six interceptions, including one he returned for a touchdown.
Woolen’s play since then, though, has been marked by inconsistency. In 2024, his 78.7 passer rating against as the nearest defender ranked 16th out of 77 defenders with at least 500 coverage snaps, per NFL Next Gen Stats. But Woolen was on the wrong end of critical mistakes late in games, including the decisive touchdown in a December loss to the Minnesota Vikings. He was benched for the opening drive of that game because of an undisclosed violation of team rules.
In the 2025 opener, Woolen misplayed two throws on the San Francisco 49ers’ winning drive — a 45-yard completion down the sideline and the decisive touchdown in the end zone. He lost his job as the No. 2 corner to Josh Jobe, though he ended up with almost exactly as many snaps and turned his season around after its rough start. Over the first six weeks, Woolen’s 116.3 passer rating against ranked 82nd. Over the final 12, his mark of 57.2 ranked sixth.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Jeremy Fowler and Brady Henderson contributed to this report.
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