Eagles make a splash, signing former Pro Bowl corner Riq Woolen to one-year deal
The Eagles jumped into free agency with a surprising splash Tuesday by signing former Pro Bowl cornerback Riq Woolen, coming off a Super Bowl with the Seahawks, to a one-year contract, a league source confirmed to NBC Sports Philadelphia.
The deal is worth up to $15 million, including incentives, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported.
After losing Jaelan Phillips, Nakobe Dean and Reed Blankenship on Day 1 of the legal tampering period, Blankenship made a bold move to add a critical piece to the defense on Day 2.
Woolen spent his first four seasons with the Seahawks, picking off 12 passes – six of them during his 2022 Pro Bowl rookie season.
Of 126 corners who have been targeted at least 100 times since 2022, Woolen’s 70.6 defensive passer rating is 2nd-best, behind only Derek Stingley’s 55.1.
Opposing quarterbacks have completed 54.2 percent of their passes when throwing at Woolen since 2022, 13th-best of those 126 corners, and their 5.6 yards per target against Woolen is 2nd-lowest, behind only Tre’Davious White’s 5.3.
Woolen gives Vic Fangio a second elite outside cornerback to pair with all-pro Quinyon Mitchell, and that gives Fangio a tremendous amount of flexibility in what he’ll be able to do.
Adoree’ Jackson, who is a free agent, started 10 games at outside corner last year and Kelee Ringo started three. Cooper DeJean started four at outside corner.
With Mitchell, DeJean and Woolen, the Eagles have three legit elite corners in what will be a rebuilt 2026 defense. All three have been Pro Bowlers and all three have been Super Bowl champions.
The Seahawks drafted Woolen in the fifth round in 2023 out of Texas-San Antonio, and he made an immediate splash, leading the NFL with six interceptions, most by any NFL rookie since Marcus Peters had eight for the Chiefs in 2015.
That’s Woolen’s only Pro Bowl, but his analytics have been outstanding all four years of his career. His opposing completion percentage has been 51.5, 57.7, 52.9 and 54.2 in the last four years and his opposing passer rating has been 48.7, 79.8, 76.9 and 75.5.
He was 26th out of 124 this past year in completion percentage 23rd in passer rating and fifth in yards per target.
Along with Sauce Gardner and Jaycee Horn, he’s one of only three corners to allow less than 60 percent completion percentage in each of the last four years, and along with Stingley he’s one of only two to allow a passer rating below 80 in each of the last four years. Only Woolen and Jourdan Lewis have allowed fewer than 6 ½ yards per target in each of the last four years.
Roseman warned before free agency that the Eagles’ cap situation would not allow him to make any big free agency signings.
“We want to build a team that every year has a chance to compete for championships, that drafts really well and signs their own players and just sporadically goes into free agency,” he said last month.
“That’s what we’re trying to do. And sometimes as much as you want to add from outside and you want to change it up, you’ve got to make a decision to keep the players you know have played well and are part of your culture.”
But when the Eagles lost Jaelan Phillips to the Panthers on Monday, it did free up money that Roseman had earmarked for Phillips and allowed Roseman to make a major outside signing.
The one-year contract isn’t ideal because it could leave the Eagles without a second outside corner once again next offseason. But Woolen obviously wasn’t happy with the multi-year offers he was getting, and the one-year deal allows him to bet on himself for a year before hitting free agency next March. And it allows Roseman to bring in a top cornerback for 2026 without the expense of a long-term contract while also giving him the option of trying to negotiate a long-term extension with Woolen before he hits free agency a year from now.
