Seattle's Secondary After Woolen

Tariq Woolen signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2026 offseason. He played 972 snaps across 20 games in Seattle's Super Bowl season. He is gone.

What he leaves behind is a 32-point drop in PFF defensive grade from CB1 to the next corner on the depth chart. Devon Witherspoon graded at 90.1 overall in 2025. Josh Jobe — the likely CB2 if Seattle doesn't add at the position — graded at 57.9.

That gap is the most important number on this roster heading into the 2026 Draft.

The Full Audit

Witherspoon Is Not the Problem

Devon Witherspoon graded at 90.1 defensive overall, 83.8 in coverage, 90.1 in run defense. He is 24. He is under contract. He is one of the three best cornerbacks in the NFL by PFF grade, and Seattle has him locked through the prime of his career.

That's the good news. The rest of this piece is the other news.

The Cliff

Woolen at 59.9 was already the weakest starting CB in the secondary by a significant margin — 30 points below Witherspoon. He compensated with size, athleticism, and an occasional dominant game (68.5 vs the Rams in Week 16). But the overall grade told a consistent story over three seasons: Woolen was a below-average starter relying on physical tools to survive scheme demands.

That player signed with Philadelphia. The options that remain:

The 32-point gap between Witherspoon and the next available corner is the largest position-quality drop on Seattle's entire roster. It is the most addressable hole in the 2026 draft.

The Safety Room: Legitimate Depth, One Big Question

The safety group is the most interesting unit on the roster to audit, because it contains both Seattle's best positional depth and its most pressing free agent decision.

Julian Love graded at 80.5 defensive overall, 83.0 in coverage — better than any player in this secondary except Witherspoon. He played 12 games due to injury. He is an unrestricted free agent.

If Love walks, Seattle loses its second-best coverage grade in the DB room. The data says he should be re-signed. The complication is that his 644 snaps make him a legitimate question mark as a full-time starter, and the market for 28-year-old safeties with injury history moves quickly.

Coby Bryant (71.4, 1173 snaps) is the volume anchor — the most-snapped DB on the roster. His grade is serviceable, not elite. His tackle grade (42.9) is the worst on the team. He needs to come back on a minimum-type deal, not as a paid starter.

Emmanwori (73.4, rookie deal through 2028) is the locked foundation — the box/coverage hybrid that Macdonald's scheme was built around. His grades don't yet reflect an elite single-season performance, but he graded 89.9 in coverage in the NFC Championship. The ceiling is real and the contract is team-friendly.

Ty Okada (75.7, 900 snaps) is underrated. His overall and run grades are legitimate depth-starter numbers. His coverage grade (72.6) is average-to-good. He's the kind of player who makes a secondary functional because he doesn't expose gaps.

Draft Priorities

Two needs emerge clearly from this audit:

1. CB2, first priority. Woolen is gone. Jobe cannot start at CB2 against the NFC's best offenses. This is not a rotational upgrade — it's a starting-caliber vacancy. If Seattle can get a first- or second-round corner who can win on the boundary or in press coverage, that is the correct pick at either #32 or #64.

2. FS anchor, conditional. If Love re-signs, the safety room is deep enough to manage with Bryant + Okada + Bell + Emmanwori. If Love walks, Bryant becomes the best available starter and that's not a tenable plan for a team trying to defend a championship. A Day 2 safety — the callout cites Scott (Rd2) or McCoy (Rd3) — is the contingency.

The Methodology Note

All grades are PFF REGPO 2025 — regular season plus playoffs combined. Playoff games are included because they are the most valuable sample available for scheme fit validation. The Rams NFC Championship game (Week 22 equivalent) is weighted the same as a Week 11 regular season game in these totals. If anything, that understates how much the postseason mattered to Seattle's defensive performance.

Snap counts confirm the grades where necessary. Woolen's 972 snaps remove small-sample concerns about his grade. Jobe's 965 snaps do the same. Love's 644 snaps are the one grade worth discounting slightly — a larger sample might move his number in either direction.