Riq Woolen & Geno Smith Named To NFL Network Top 100 Players List

A pair of Seahawks, quarterback Geno Smith and cornerback Riq Woolen, were named to the NFL Network’s Top 100 Players list as players No. 71-80 were unveiled on Wednesday.

Jul 26, 2023 at 10:13 AM

Maliik Obee

Seahawks.com Contributor

With the 2023 NFL season approaching, it's time for the NFL's annual Top-100 player rankings, with players league-wide casting their vote for the league's best. After seeing no Seattle players selected between No.81-100 in the highly-anticipated yearly reveal, cornerback Riq Woolen (No. 76) and quarterback Geno Smith (No. 77) make their debut on the list.

From watching the show as a kid to making #NFLTop100 as a rookie 🙌@_Tariqwoolen comes it at #76! pic.twitter.com/OIQf2hVfzm
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) July 27, 2023

In a year's time, Woolen has become a household name in the Pacific-Northwest after a rookie campaign that concluded with a 2022 Pro Bowl nomination. The Day 3 selection from the University of Texas-San Antonio is now being regarded as one of last year’s biggest draft steals after tying for the league-lead in interceptions with six. The speedy 6-foot-4 corner was named the fastest player in EA Sports’ upcoming Madden 24 video game (98 speed) last week, and is now being recognized as one of the league's best players after one season.

3 players at this year's Combine ran a 4.2 40-yd dash:

4.23 Kalon Barnes
4.26 Tariq Woolen
4.28 Tyquan Thornton

All three have been training together pre-draft, which probably makes for some fun races.
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) March 6, 2022

This spring, Woolen underwent arthroscopic knee surgery for a minor issue, but Coach Pete Carroll showed no concern for his star corner’s future when discussing the matter during OTAs.

"It was really an unusual occurrence," Carroll said. "He didn't have a play where he got hurt, he was in between plays, getting ready to go get lined up, and he felt something. It wasn't bad, then before the play started, he sat down; he felt something was wrong. Fortunately, everything went great, he's getting around terrific already. It's hopefully a four-to-six-week type of a deal. His attitude has been great. He never really accepted it when it happened, and it was such a weird occurrence. He just took it in stride and has been really positive about it. We should be able to get him back soon."

Did anyone throw a nicer deep ball than @GenoSmith3 last season? pic.twitter.com/vAKLuQgxzs
— NFL (@NFL) July 7, 2023

2022 was a year to remember for Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith, winning the 2022 AP Comeback Player of the Year Award. In his first campaign as a full-time starter since 2014 with the New York Jets, Smith led the league in completion percentage (69.8) and was named to the 2022 NFL Pro Bowl. While the 32-year-old enters his 11th season hoping to help the Seahawks improve upon last season's 9-8 finish that resulted in a Wild Card berth, his peers voted him amongst the league's best after a storybook season.

With players 71-80 being revealed Wednesday, we wait to see how many more Seahawks will grace the Top-100 in the days to come.

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