Tariq Deion Woolen (born May 2, 1999) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

for the Seattle Seahawks of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played college football at UTSA and was drafted by the Seahawks in the fifth round of the

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and ...

. Woolen made the

pro bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

as a rookie in 2022.

Early life and high school

Woolen grew up in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

and attended

Arlington Heights High School Arlington Heights High School (AHHS, Heights) is a secondary school located in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Fort Worth Independent School District. Its mascot is the Yellow Jack ...

. He was rated a three-star recruit and committed to play college football at the

University of Texas at San Antonio The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is a Public university, public research university in San Antonio, Texas. With over 34,000 students across its four campuses spanning 758 acres, UTSA is the Education in San Antonio, largest universi ...

over offers from

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wo ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, and

Texas State Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

College career

Woolen redshirted his freshman season at UTSA. As a redshirt freshman wide receiver, he caught 15 passes for 158 yards and one touchdown. Woolen started the first three games of his redshirt sophomore season before moving to the cornerback position. Woolen became a starter during his redshirt junior season and finished the year with 35 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks with four passes broken up and one interception. Woolen had 25 tackles, 5 passes broken up, and one interception as a redshirt senior. After the conclusion of his college career, Woolen was invited to play in the

2022 Senior Bowl The 2022 Senior Bowl was a college football all-star game played on February 5, 2022, at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. The game featured prospects for the 2022 draft of the professional National Football League (NFL), predominantl ...

Professional career

At the 2022 NFL Combine, Woolen ran a 4.26-second

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a h ...

, tied for third-best in the Combine history and fastest for a player over six foot. He was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the fifth round (153rd overall) of the

. In Week 3, Woolen recorded his first career interception from Atlanta Falcons quarterback

Marcus Mariota Marcus Ardel Taulauniu Mariota (born October 30, 1993) is an American football quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted second overall by the Tennessee Titans in the 2015 NFL Draft. Mariota pl ...

as time expired in the second half. In Week 4, Woolen had his second career interception against Detroit Lions quarterback

Jared Goff Jared Thomas Goff (born October 14, 1994) is an American football quarterback for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at California, where he set the Pac-12 Conference season records for passi ...

and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown in the 48–45 win. After intercepting

Kyler Murray Kyler Cole Murray (born August 7, 1997) is an American football quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). Following a stint at Texas A&M, Murray played college football at Oklahoma, where he won the Heisman Trop ...

in Week 6 against the Arizona Cardinals, Woolen became the only rookie over the last 10 years to record an interception in at least four consecutive games. He was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 6. He was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team and earned Pro Bowl honors. He finished his rookie season with a total of six interceptions, tied for most in the league.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

Seattle Seahawks bio

UTSA Roadrunners bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woolen, Tariq 1999 births American football cornerbacks Living people Seattle Seahawks players Players of American football from Fort Worth, Texas UTSA Roadrunners football players National Conference Pro Bowl players