The Seahawks left open the possibility that cornerback Riq Woolen might play Sunday against Jacksonville by listing him as doubtful on Friday.
But any chance of Woolen playing was eliminated Saturday when the Seahawks downgraded him to out.
Woolen suffered a concussion in the third quarter of last Sunday’s 38-35 loss to Tampa Bay and remains in the concussion protocol.
He practiced on a limited basis all week, which seemed to indicate he was making progress, but ultimately couldn’t cross all the necessary checkmarks to make it.
“Just the protocol, there’s all sorts of things you’ve got to hit, and he hasn’t quite hit all the things,” coach Mike Macdonald said on Friday. “It’s different for each guy, from what I understand, it’s like you accelerate through, ‘Okay, bang, I’m good, oh, now I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do that, didn’t get cleared here, didn’t get cleared there, okay, now I got cleared.’ It’s a tricky process.”
Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Jarran Reed attempts to block against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Oct. 5, 2025, in Seattle.
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Woolen has started Seattle’s first five games of the season and has missed just three games in his career.
That leaves only two injury question marks entering Sunday’s game: cornerback Devon Witherspoon and safety Julian Love. Each was also listed as doubtful on Friday, Witherspoon dealing with a knee injury and Love a hamstring.
Players listed as doubtful, though, don’t generally make it back and it appears as if the Seahawks are preparing to be without them against the Jaguars as Seattle on Saturday elevated cornerback Shaquill Griffin and safety Jerrick Reed II of the practice squad.
Griffin figures to see time in Seattle’s cornerback rotation with Woolen and likely Witherspoon not playing.
Reed will add depth at safety and play special teams with Ty Okada seeming likely to again start at safety in place of Love. Rookie Nick Emmanwori also figures to play substantially at safety in his second game back from a high ankle sprain that held him out for three games, and Macdonald has said he could also play deep safety.
But the team has crafted a special package for him as a third safety playing closer to the line of scrimmage that it may want to continue. D’Anthony Bell could also factor into the safety rotation.
Griffin played for Seattle from 2017-20 after arriving as a third-round pick, then signed in 2021 with Jacksonville as a free agent and spent two years there with 19 starts overall. He was released and played with Houston and Carolina in 2023 and Minnesota in 2024 and then re-signed with Seattle in June.
Griffin has been active for just one game this season, on the field for three defensive snaps in the win at Pittsburgh on Sept. 14 when Witherspoon was also sidelined.
“I love having Shaq out there because he competes,” Macdonald said. “The guy just attacks all the mental stuff, he knows it. He’s got a great attitude, and he competes, and we can go into games with that for sure.”
Josh Jobe figures to again start at one corner in the base defense. But it’s unclear if the other starter would be Griffin, Derion Kendrick or Nehemiah Pritchett if Witherspoon is also sidelined.
Pritchett, a fifth-round pick in 2024 out of Auburn, stepped in for Woolen against the Bucs and was judged by Pro Football Focus as giving up three receptions for 44 yards and two touchdowns in 21 snaps.
But Macdonald on Friday said Pritchett was not as much to blame for what was a 20-yard TD pass from Baker Mayfield to Emeka Egbuka as it may have appeared.
“Nehemiah was the guy closest to the ball, so it’s easy to attribute to him, but that play is not on Nehemiah,” Macdonald said. “That’s on our defense and really everybody. He happens to be on the defense, so he takes part of it. I happen to be in charge of the defense, so I take part of it. Nehemiah did a good job, but that play is not solely on him. It’s not even close.”
Kendrick, claimed off waivers from the Rams in late August, had interceptions against the Steelers and Saints when filling in for Witherspoon at the nickel spot.
But Kendrick struggled against the Bucs, earning just a 35.6 overall grade from Pro Football Focus and a team-low 28.8 for tackling as the Seahawks had an especially poor tackling game on the perimeter. The Seahawks were assessed 10 missed tackles by PFF.
“Our whole team needs to tackle better,” Macdonald said. “I think there’s a stat that in the box, we’re really good and out of the box, we’re not so good. We know the answer to that one. But if you’re out of the box, you’ve got to tackle better.”
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Notes
— Defensive lineman Leonard Williams was fined $46,371 after being called for an unnecessary-roughness penalty for a headbutt in the end zone late in the third quarter Sunday. The fine is the league-mandated amount for a second offense for use of the helmet. He was called for a similar penalty in Week 3 against the Saints.
Williams has been called for four penalties this season — three for unnecessary roughness and another for roughing the passer.
Williams was the only player to draw a fine in the Seattle-Tampa Bay game.
— Seattle’s gameday roster appears to set up so that rookie quarterback Jalen Milroe can again be active. Milroe has played three snaps this season — one each in games against the 49ers, Saints and Bucs. The Seahawks lost a fumble on his play against the Bucs when his pitch to Kenneth Walker III on an option play went off Walker’s hand and was recovered by Tampa Bay.
Macdonald reiterated this week that the Seahawks will continue to look for ways to get snaps for Milroe, who was the 92nd overall pick out of Alabama.
“Yeah, the plan is to play him more than one play a game, but we just either haven’t needed it or haven’t gotten to it,” Macdonald said. “We’ll continue to work it, game plan for it and call it. And then let the games declare on how we want to play it. But he’s still very much part of our plans.”
Bob Condotta: bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Bob Condotta is a sports reporter at The Seattle Times who primarily covers the Seahawks but also dabbles in other sports. He has worked at The Times since 2002, reporting on University of Washington Husky football and basketball for his first 10 years at the paper before switching to the Seahawks in 2013.