His first Seahawks and NFL training camp is not going smoothly for Devon Witherspoon
The first NFL training camp for heralded rookie Devon Witherspoon is not going smoothly.
Wednesday, during the lightest practice yet of the dozen in training camp, Withespoon stood next to Riq Woolen, watching. They were wearing sneakers, not cleats.
Woolen is still working his way back from arthroscopic knee surgery in May.
Witherspoon missed his third consecutive practice with a hamstring injury, his second in three months.
The two cornerbacks presumed to be the Seahawks’ starters for this season will not play Thursday night when Seattle hosts the Minnesota Vikings in the first preseason game.
Witherspoon, the fifth pick in this year’s NFL draft, may not be back next week, either. That’s before the second preseason game, Aug. 19 against Dallas. That’s the one in which the Seahawks’ starters are likely to play the most before the season begins Sept. 10 against the Los Angeles Rams.
Asked if the team had an expected timeline to get Witherspoon back practicing, coach Pete Carroll said: “I’ve got nothing to give you on that one. I don’t know.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a long time, though. But I don’t know that.
“It doesn’t seem serious. He’s moving around and all of that. But we have to be careful there.”
The Seahawks held Witherspoon, the team’s highest-drafted cornerback since Shawn Springs in 1997, out of early offseason practices this spring because of a hamstring issue. Carroll said Witherspoon brought it with him from the University of Illinois last season.
Then he held out of the first two days of training camp July 26 and 27, to get his entire four-year, $31.8 million contract guaranteed.
Carroll said Wednesday the cornerback’s new issue is on the same, left leg as in the spring, but in a different place on the muscle, a new injury.
Whenever he returns, Witherspoon is losing ground at his presumed starting spot at left cornerback, opposite Woolen to begin this season.
Tre Brown has been starting there all training camp and excelling. On the right side, Michael Jackson has been a star of spring and summer. He’s playing Woolen’s side, for now. Jackson was Seattle’s starting left cornerback last season.
That’s two cornerbacks balling out, as the players say, while the heralded rookie is unavailable, injured. When he was practicing before his injury Monday, Witherspoon’s only practice time with the starting defense was playing some nickel, fifth and dime, sixth defensive back inside against slot receivers.
Carroll and defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt are exploring Witherspoon as a slot defensive back because of his tackling ability and coverage skills.
Nickel backs need to tackle in the NFL, as offenses increasingly counter pass-defensive sub packages by running the ball at the extra defensive backs.
With Witherspoon out the last three days, undrafted rookie Jonathan Sutherland from Penn State has been getting snaps at nickel with the starting defense. So has Coby Bryant, Seattle’s primary nickel back last season.
Bryant is likely to play much of Thursday night’s game at safety, the position coaches moved him to for the first time last week.
Sutherland and wide receiver Jake Bobo from UCLA have been the most impressive undrafted rookies in Seattle’s camp. Each will play a lot Thursday night, and are on their ways to make a team that annually plays among the most undrafted rookie free agents in the league.
“Jon’s been a really fun guy in this camp, now, and in the offseason, too. He’s a very aggressive, very instinctive kid,” Carroll said.
“He’s a fun player. I’m anxious to see how he does.”
It doesn’t sound like Brown, the team’s second pick in the 2021 draft who’s been injured his first two NFL seasons and had a major injury much of last year, is yielding left cornerback to Witherspoon. Or anybody else.
Brown was a rookie starting cornerback for Seattle in 2021, until he injured his knee in November in a game against Arizona.
“Yeah, before he got hurt he was doing great. Well, he’s doing it again,” Carroll said. “He’s playing as tough as anybody we’ve got out there. He’s coverage is aggressive and on it and consistent. He’s making plays. He’s been good in all situations, running game, too.
“He’s having a great camp, no denying it.”
This story was originally published August 9, 2023 at 2:43 PM.
