‘He Lets Us Play To Our Strengths’

PHILADELPHIA — Spring practices are conventionally tailored to building and learning, emphasizing coaching points and heeding directives to avoid an orientation period of sorts once training camps open in late July. There isn’t much to extrapolate, a sentiment that rang especially true as it pertained to the Eagles, a team undergoing a dramatic offensive overhaul from a schematic and philosophical standpoint.

Now, that’s not to say that there aren’t exceptions to the general rule. At times, an addition or two will emerge during these sessions, delivering production consistent enough to validate the organizational vision.

For the Eagles, cornerback Riq Woolen met that criteria during the media-attended practices.

Signed with the expectation of simmering the turbulence opposite third-year standout Quinyon Mitchell, Woolen has delivered promising early returns. Of course, the truest measure of impact will be determined during the dog days of summer and into the fall, but some new faces simply pass the eye test.

Woolen, who stands at 6-foot-4, already boasts atypical size for his position, but coupled with long speed and movement fluidity he depicts a rare specimen. Woolen’s length and ability to execute the Eagles’ match-carry-deliver principles made for a challenging draw when targeted at spring practices. His ranginess narrowed spacing and throwing windows, notably illustrated in one instance in particular, when defending a Go ball down the right sideline to speedster Hollywood Brown.

Woolen matched Brown step-for-step to force the incompletion.

“I’ve been just blessed with amazing gifts,” he said. “I played receiver, I ran track my whole life. I played basketball, played baseball, and all [that] transitions to the football world. So, I’ve been blessed with the height, the length, and speed, and it’s pretty cool to be recognized by that. But at the same time, me being different from the other corners, body and the athletic type, I still got to go out there and produce and do the right things and use my gifts the right way.”

GETTY IMAGES/Mitchell Leff: Eagles DC Vic Fangio seems very comfortable already with Riq Woolen’s fit into his scheme.

The 27-year-old, who managed to stand out in some way each practice, also offered a glimpse of what his skill set can provide in confined spaces during red zone periods. To punctuate a productive spring, on the final day of mandatory minicamp, Woolen stormed through for a would-be sack and snared an errant Jalen Hurts intermediary pass intended for tight end Dallas Goedert. Context is important, granted, as it’s spring practices and the offense is in the midst of establishing a foundation, but Woolen looked the part.

The reality is that supercharged athletes entering their prime years at the cornerback position don’t typically sign a one-year deal worth up to $12 million. For Woolen to fully realize his potential in Philadelphia, assignment-sound diligence and maintaining consistency will be paramount under Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. And while Woolen is new to the defense, he’s already taken a liking to Fangio’s system, conveying an eagerness in how it uniquely affects the cornerback position.

“He just puts us in the right places, and he lets us play to our strengths,” he said. “And just being in his defense, you’re going to grow a lot, especially working off technique is one of my things in my game, because I know I’m a press corner, but also I got to play off technique sometimes, too. And being able to come here and work on that technique throughout this training — and being able to understand the defense and learn different ways to play my techniques in this defense — that’s something I’ve been trying to do as we go each day.”

Fangio back in May expressed his enthusiasm for bringing Woolen into the fold, adding that he was “kind of surprised that [Woolen] was one of those guys that didn’t get a lot of action for a long-term deal.” Never one to offer hollow praise, whenever Fangio volunteers an endorsement in any capacity, antennas naturally raise. Woolen, for the record, agreed with Fangio’s sentiment, sharing that he also was “a little surprised” he didn’t command a more sizeable deal.

“When you got confidence in yourself and you put in a great body of work, you feel like you deserve some type of fruit for your labor,” he said. “But sometimes, things don’t go your way, but it’s always a better plan. God’s plan was to put me here with a great team and give me another chance to win a Super Bowl and be successful here.”

Among the benefits of the Eagles going for the upside swing in Woolen is that, if all goes according to plan, his presence will present optionality for Fangio in terms of personnel usage. The veteran coordinator can call his defense without restrictions or needing to atone for imperfections.

Another would be Woolen’s propensity to make plays on the football. He never matched his six-interception rookie total, sure, but Woolen has registered double-digit passes defended in each of his first four seasons. The former Seahawks cornerback, patrolling a secondary that includes a pair of All-Pros in Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, figures to have ample opportunities to generate splash plays.

Woolen didn’t mince words when offering his assessment of the current iteration of the Eagles’ secondary, expressing his belief that the collection of talent could be one of the league’s best. He supported his bullishness by citing the group’s collective confidence and the daily deposits made to influence progress.

Woolen this spring has drawn rave reviews from teammates, as well as Fangio himself, and has also made an impression on defensive passing game coordinator Joe Kasper.

“Riq is really special,” Kasper said this spring. “You could see his physical … I mean the play where Saquon breaks through and Riq runs him down. I mean to just see that pure speed is really amazing. There’s not too many guys that look like him playing that position. So, we’ll take advantage of it every way that we can schematically. And from a technical standpoint, he’s got to be coached a different technique than you coach Q [Quinyon Mitchell] with, right? They’re two totally different body types.

“So, you do talk to them differently. And that’s why you’ve got to be able to, when you work in the secondary, have a multitude of different pitches. The pitches that Riq throws are going to be different than the pitches that Q throws. Just like [Zack] Wheeler is going to throw a different game than [Cristopher] Sanchez. It’s very parallel to that, especially at the corner position. So, you want to be able to give those guys different tweaks and technical elements to enhance their game. Riq has a nice fastball. The length is real. The speed is real. So, we’re really, really excited about that.”

— Andrew DiCecco (@AndrewDiCecco) is a Staff Reporter/Content Producer for InsideTheBirds.com