The Seattle Seahawks expected to get a strong player with the No. 5 overall pick in last year’s draft in Devon Witherspoon, but the team may not have anticipated getting someone who can compete with the NFL’s best right out of the gate.
ESPN ranked the top 100 players going into the season and Witherspoon clocked in at No. 84.
“Mike Macdonald got the most out of his players as Baltimore’s defensive coordinator,” ESPN insider Brady Henderson writes. “Now Seattle’s coach, he may not have a more talented player on that side of the ball than Witherspoon, the fifth pick in 2023 who made the Pro Bowl as a rookie. Witherspoon proved to be instinctive in coverage, physical in run defense and disruptive as a blitzer out of the slot, racking up three sacks. Can Macdonald’s scheme help him go from Pro Bowl to All-Pro?”
Witherspoon, 23, will be expected to lead the Seahawks cornerback room alongside Riq Woolen, Tre Brown, Nehemiah Pritchett, Dee Williams, who all made the 53-man roster out of training camp.
Last season, Witherspoon’s 12 pass breakups ranked third in the entire NFL, so you can only imagine what a full offseason and a defensive-minded coach will do for the second-year pro out of Illinois.
If he continues along this trajectory, Witherspoon should be even higher on this list in a year from now.
Witherspoon and the Seahawks will get some rest this week before they embark on the regular season, which starts on Sunday, Sept. 8 when the Denver Broncos come to town.
