Seahawks replace Shaquill Griffin with ex-49er corner Ahkello Witherspoon on 1-year deal
The Seahawks’ post-Shaquill Griffin secondary is taking a 49ers shape.
At a Seattle price.
Seattle’s first signing of the 2021 NFL free agency period is going to be Ahkello Witherspoon, a former starting cornerback for San Francisco. He has agreed to a one-year contract. The Athletic reported it is worth $4 million. NFL Network reported Wednesday the Seahawks guaranteed all $4 million.
That’s the kind of deal the Seahawks like: shorter term and less expensive than the first wave of free agency.
They got out-bid earlier Tuesday for Shaquill Griffin. His home-state Jacksonville Jaguars gave the 2019 Pro Bowl cornerback an average of $14 million in his new deal.
So Seattle, with just $17 million of salary-cap space entering the week, nets a savings of $10 million at cornerback.
Witherspoon joins D.J. Reed, another former 49ers defensive back who wowed Seattle last season, at cornerback for the Seahawks in 2021. The team also has Tre Flowers returning. Flowers was the starter opposite Griffin in 2018 and ‘19, before the Seahawks traded for Quinton Dunbar to replace Flowers last spring.
Dunbar played 10 of 16 games before his first Seattle season ended with knee surgery. He’s a free agent. Coach Pete Carroll said in January Dunbar was in the team’s plans for 2021.
But the Seahawks bringing him back more cheaply than they could have retained Griffin takes on less of a urgency now that they have Witherspoon.
Witherspoon fits the prototype of a Carroll cornerback for the Seahawks. He’s long, 6 feet 3, with 33-inch arms.
Witherspoon and Griffin are the same age, 25. They were in the same 2017 draft class.
Weeks before the 2017 draft, when the Seahawks were looking to add cornerbacks for its post-Legion of Boom secondary, Carroll and Schneider met with Witherspoon. That was after Witherspoon, at the University of Colorado, played Richard Sherman’s pressing style.
They selected Griffin instead in the third round of that ‘17 draft. That was 30-some picks after San Francisco took Witherspoon, at the start of that third round.
Witherspoon is the same size as Sherman, the former Seahawks Super Bowl-champion cornerback who remains unsigned after two seasons with San Francisco.
The New Orleans Saints are reportedly one of multiple teams interested in perhaps a one-year contract with Sherman.
This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 6:57 PM.
