The Seahawks have one of the brightest young defensive stars in the NFL in rookie cornerback Devon Witherspoon, who’s currently one of five finalists for the Defensive Rookie of the Year award and just played in the Pro Bowl. The most exciting thing about Witherspoon is that he’s barely even begun to reach his full potential. He may not win DROY, but we’ll take his ceiling over literally every other non-quarterback in his draft class.
Looking ahead, Spoon should be in the running for an All-Pro nomination, perhaps as soon as next year. However, he’s focused on staying healthy, playing a full season and making the playoffs. Here’s what Witherspoon shared when he was asked about his goals in 2024, per Sports Illustrated:
“Just to build on Year 1… I know I missed some games so I just want to stay healthy so I can play the whole season and hopefully get to the postseason for sure. But my goal in Year 2 is just to double up what I did this year, let them know that it wasn’t a one-time thing.”
Witherspoon also told SI that he’s pretty excited to see what new head coach Mike Macdonald can do.
Further unlocking Witherspoon’s potential will be one of the key elements to finding Year 1 success for Macdonald. Something he’ll need to improve on is his tackling – he missed 12 attempts in 2023 or 13.2%. He should also become more refined in coverage with time – he allowed five touchdowns as the nearest defender this year.
Macdonald will also want to build on the things Spoon is already great at – namely rush the quarterback as well as any DB since Jamal Adams in 2020 and help defend the run, where he was a bright spot in an otherwise dismal secondary.
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