Devon Witherspoon’s Seahawks debut adds to Pete Carroll’s excitement about his top rookie
What was abundantly clear the night he drafted him this spring remains so through the rookie’s Seahawks debut.
Pete Carroll sure loves him some Devon Witherspoon.
Carroll’s general manager John Schneider said before Seattle’s game Sunday at Detroit Witherspoon was so excited to finally play his first game after being sidetracked more than a month by a hamstring injury, his position coach had to calm him.
“Coach (Karl) Scott, his position coach, was trying to calm him down before the game,” Schneider said of his weekly pregame interview on the Seahawks radio network.
Witherspoon himself had said he expected he might have nerves during his debut.
“I feel like I’m ready. I still have to get the jitters out for my first game, though,” Witherspoon said last week.
“I just have to go out there and play.”
Yet Carroll said he didn’t see any of that as the fifth pick in the draft started at left cornerback in Seattle’s 37-31 overtime win over the Lions.
“I didn’t see him be nervous at all,” Seattle’s 72-year-old coach said. “I thought he was in it from the start. Wasn’t too big for him. He might’ve been internally tight, but he didn’t show it. His attitude doesn’t go that way. He was having fun, got involved, and had a couple of big wins.
“I think it’s a terrific first game that we got through.”
Pete Carroll knows the position
The game in Detroit began with Witherspoon flying all over the field. He was coming up hard on Lions running plays off his edge. He even zoomed into the middle of the field to get in on a tackle on a run over the center.
The coach said he went up to Witherspoon following the first quarter Sunday and asked the 22-year old how his first NFL start was going.
“He said it was his idea of looking at it was, ‘This is easy.’ And so, he had a great time playing,” Carroll said.
Carroll knows the intricacies of defensive-back play better than any other position. He played defensive back in college, at Pacific. His first position coaching positions were teaching DBs, at Iowa State in 1978 and Ohio State in 1979. His first NFL job was as the defensive backs coach for the Buffalo Bills in 1984.
Last month in Seahawks training camp he regularly joined in the drills assistants Karl Scott and DeShawn Shead conducted for the cornerbacks. Carroll tells then shows his cornerbacks the footwork, hand placements and shoulder turns he wants for running with wide receivers in his unique step-kick technique of press coverage at the line of scrimmage.
So his assessment of Witherspoon’s debut comes with more than a half century of expertise.
The first asset Carroll sees in Seattle’s highest-drafted cornerback since Shawn Springs in 1997?
His swagger.
It’s what Carroll cited first this week when asked what Witherspoon added to the defense starting for the first time opposite 2022 Pro Bowl cornerback Riq Woolen.
“The confidence that we’re growingly accustomed here as we learn him and get to play with him. He thinks he’s going to win his challenges; he’s going to come out on the good side of that,” Carroll said of Witherspoon. “He’s got a really good attitude about that.”
Sunday against the Lions, the cornerback renowned at the University of Illinois for his aggressive coverage and linebacker-like hitting had two big wins, a huge loss and a debatable penalty, for pass interference.
Detailing Devon’s day
His penalty was on a third and 5. It gave Detroit a first down. Witherspoon converged on the pass arriving from Lions quarterback Jared Goff to receiver Marvin Jones Jr. Jones had run an 11-yard in route, inside Witherspoon. As is often the case in the offensively titled NFL, officials ruled Witherspoon contacted Jones before the ball arrived.
Carroll disagreed with that ruling. He saw that Jones went through Witherspoon to get to the ball.
“The receiver ran right up into him, and (Witherspoon) settled right at the depth where the receiver was going to make his break. That just can happen some,” Carroll said. “He did not torque the guy in any way. He really tried to get off of him once the guy settled into him. I don’t know how he could’ve avoided that, other than throw his hands up.”
On the next play, the Lions used Witherspoon’s aggression and exuberance against him. They ran a flea-flicker.
Goff handed the ball out of shotgun formation to running back Jahmyr Gibbs on what appeared to be an inside zone-read run. Witherspoon and the entire Seahawks defense ran up to confront the run. Gibbs then pitched the ball back to Goff. Receiver Kalif Raymond sprinted right past Witherspoon running in the opposite direction. Raymond was 5 yards behind Witherspoon down the right side for an easy 36-yard touchdown pass to put Detroit up 14-7 in the second quarter.
Carroll acknowledged Witherspoon got taken on that play, and said, basically, it happens. Of course, that’s easier to swallow following a rousing, upset win.
Witherspoon’s best play came earlier in the second quarter. Detroit went for a fourth and 4 at the Seahawks 31-yard line with the score tied at 7. Rookie tight end Sam LaPorta ran a shallow crossing route as Witherspoon chased him. As Goff’s pass arived, Witherspoon deftly reached over LaPorta’s left shoulder closest to the ball and batted it away without contacting the receiver for a possible penalty.
It’s one of the most difficult plays a defensive back can make, over the top of a receiver without drawing a flag. Not to mention short crossers are so in vogue now for NFL offenses. They are usually easy, short completions for the quarterback and opportunities for the receiver to keep running for yards after the catch.
“That was a great play. That was a terrific play,” Carroll said. “So often in one-on-ones guys lose on the crossing routes, especially the shallow crosses. You have to get a good jump on it, and then you have to make the play on the ball, which he did that cleanly and in really good shape.”
Witherspoon was involved in Seattle’s other fourth-down stop in Detroit. In the final minute of the third quarter the Lions went for a fourth and 2 from their own 45. Rookie Derick Hall’s pressure up the middle on Goff forced the quarterback to move for one of the first times in the game. That affected Goff’s throw, badly. His pass outside left to Josh Reynolds was so high and far left of his target, the officials didn’t throw a penalty flag on Witherspoon for his legs tripping those of Detroit’s receiver as the ball sailed past them.
“The fourth down one where they tie up their feet, he couldn’t avoid that,” Carroll said. “He was right on the guy there, too.”
In all, Witherspoon did nothing but enhance his standing with Carroll — and his place as the starting left cornerback this Sunday when the Seahawks (1-1) host the Carolina Panthers (0-2) at Lumen Field (1:05 p.m., channel 7).
“He’s going to have some bumps along the way, but he’s a fine football player, Carroll said. “And he’s just scratching the — just getting started.”
This story was originally published September 20, 2023 at 5:01 AM.
