The New England Patriots' latest effort to acquire a viable candidate for the nose tackle job, as the defense moves more toward a 3-4 front for the 2003 season, has been thwarted.

Seattle head coach Mike Holmgren said Tuesday that his team will match the restricted free agent offer sheet tackle Cedric Woodard signed with the Patriots last Friday afternoon, thus retaining a young veteran the Seahawks staff feels has a solid future in the league.

And who probably will have an expanded role with Seattle in 2003.

"He's a good young player," Holmgren said. "We're not going to lose him."

Despite limited playing time in his first three seasons, Woodard apparently made a very positive impression on new Seattle defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes in a mini-camp last week. Rhodes wants to rotate his tackles more, especially given the ages of starters John Randle and Chad Eaton, and sees Woodward as a part of the mix.

The Seahawks had until Friday to either match the offer sheet or permit Woodard to move on to the Patriots and accept a sixth-round draft pick as compensation. Seattle had retained a right of first refusal on Woodard, and the right to match any offer sheets, by making him a $605,000 qualifying offer in February. Details of the New England offer were never made public.

A former University of Texas standout, Woodard was chosen by Baltimore in the sixth round of the 2000 draft. He was cut toward the end of camp that year and claimed by the Seahawks on waivers.

He saw no action as a rookie, but has appeared in all 16 games in each of the past two seasons, and recorded four tackles. Woodard has been a backup to Eaton, ironically a former New England starter, and also played extensively on special teams.

For the Patriots, the pursuit of Woodard came after the team failed in its attempts to sign veteran nose tackle Jeff Zgonina of St. Louis, who reached a deal with the Miami Dolphins last week. New England may not turn its attention to another restricted free agent tackle, Jermaine Haley of Miami, who became expendable when the Dolphins acquired Zgonina.

The Dolphins are willing to trade Haley but it is uncertain if they would deal him to the Patriots, an AFC East rival. The Pats could simply sign Haley to an offer sheet and hope Miami does not match it. Haley carries a seventh-round draft choice as compensation.

New England has been attempting to add interior linemen, because they will emphasize the 3-4 front more, and want to move tackle Richard Seymour to end in that alignment. If they can't acquire a veteran nose tackle, the Pats could use one of their two choices in the first round of the draft to land one.

Woodard was the eighth restricted free agent to agree to an offer sheet with another club during the signing period. In four cases, the incumbent club matched the offer sheet, and four times the players switched teams.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.