Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider has never been one to shy away from making a trade that he thinks will help his team. While he doesn't make moves every season, he has made many impactful deals in the last decade.
But the key to Schneider's trades hasn't been that he wants to deal players to other teams. Instead, the GM wants to acquire the player he wants. In other words, Schneider isn't going to trade away a player just to get rid of him. If the player has to be used as a piece to get the player Schneider wants, then the move might be made.
This is why ESPN's Adam Schefter's recent report that teams are calling about cornerback Riq Woolen and edge rusher Boye Mafe seems slightly misleading. Schefter isn't saying, to be certain, that the Seahawks want to trade Woolen and Mafe, but doing so would imply Seattle is being a seller at the November 4 deadline.
Seattle Seahawks could trade Riq Woolen and Boye Mafe
As 12s know, John Schneider is also not going to give out any information about whether the team is shopping for a player or not. Any rumors of that speculation probably come from the player's agent and not the team. Schneider wouldn't give up that kind of leverage.
Assuming Schefter's sources are correct, though, Seattle trading Woolen and Mafe would seemingly be a mistake. Moving one or the other, as each player is in the final year of their rookie contracts, is also unlikely. As inconsistent as Woolen is, his upside is excellent.
Woolen is also coming off his best game of the season in Week 7 when he allowed only three of his eight pass targets to be completed, and for only 21 yards. No one knows what Woolen will deliver each week, and reason he might not be re-signed next offseason, but head coach Mike Macdonald likes depth in his secondary, and losing Woolen hurts that.
Boye Mafe is having an odd season. He hasn't had a sack yet and has only one tackle for loss, but, according to ESPN, he has the 10th-best pass-rush win rate (20 percent) in the NFL. He is making things difficult for the opposing offense without getting home on the quarterback.
Of the two players, Boye Mafe is much more likely to be re-signed this offseason than Riq Woolen. The team also has to work out an extension with left tackle Charles Cross while potentially re-signing running back Kenneth Walker III. Mafe and Woolen are probably still going to be on the Seattle Seahawks roster in Week 18, though.