Devon Witherspoon asks so many questions — like Bobby Wagner did as a Seahawks rookie
One of Devon Witherspoon’s first accomplishments upon joining the Seahawks?
Impressing Bobby Wagner.
Not with his play. That showed up soon enough.
It was how many questions the rookie was asking.
Of Wagner. Of Quandre Diggs. Of every teammate older than the 22-year-old Witherspoon. That was everybody, except fellow rookie first-round pick Jaxon Smith-Njigba; he’s 21.
The fifth pick and top cornerback taken in this year’s draft, Witherspoon asked his new teammates this summer into fall about offenses. He asked them about NFL quarterbacks’ tendencies. About taking care of his body between games, proper eating and rest, life in the NFL — basically, everything.
The more Witherspoon asked, the more he kept asking.
“Those guys have played football for a lot of years. They know the game very well,” Witherspoon said Wednesday. “It was easy for them to give me the information that they probably knew that I needed early on in my rookie year.
“And they did that for me. Shout out to those guys. Appreciate them for the information they gave me.”
Witherspoon was struck by how easy it was for a new guy to approach the sage veterans.
“They were very open about it. It was no challenge, or issue or anything about it,” he said. “We are trying to be the best we can be. To do that, those guys shared the information that they did. It helped me. I feel like I needed to hear it.”
It’s worked.
Halfway into his debut season, entering Sunday’s game between his Seahawks (5-3) and Washington Commanders (4-5) at Lumen Field, the inquisitive Witherspoon is the reigning NFL defensive rookie of the month for October. He is excelling as a tackler and pass defender outside at cornerback. The 6-foot, 185-pound Witherspoon has been bigger than that inside as a dynamic slot nickel. He is a favorite to win the league’s rookie of the year award.
So much for rookies being mostly seen and not heard.
“He’s a unique player,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said.
“Not many guys can do (cornerback and nickel) and do it effectively and be in command of it.”
Carroll is struck by the many nuances of offenses and plays Witherspoon knows. It is what contributes to what the veteran coach says is the rookie’s Troy Polamalu-like ability to anticipate plays.
“It’s surprising he has that much awareness,” Carroll said. “He has so much room to grow.”
And to learn. He’s still asking questions of Wagner, routinely. And Wagner is still dispensing knowledge to Witherspoon.
Wagner is just paying it forward. This is what he did when he entered the league with Seattle 11 years ago.
Bobby Wagner cold-called legends for help
Wagner, now 33 and a six-time All-Pro at middle linebacker, didn’t just ask questions of veteran on his Seahawks when he was a rookie in 2012.
Then as old as Witherspoon is now, 22, Wagner cold-called some of the best linebackers of the last quarter century.
“I did seek the help of other linebackers. I remember even having the conversation with Mike Singletary. He said ‘Watch the film,’” Wagner said.
“I had some really good coaches and mentors that shared knowledge.”
Wagner learned tips such as looking for running backs who lean with their weight forward while in their stance just before the snap (they are about to get the ball) and for quarterbacks who exaggerate hand motions on play-action passes (they are handing the ball off, they’re throwing).
“I reached out to all of them, to be honest,” Wagner said Wednesday. “Obviously I reached out Ray (Lewis), Patrick Willis, NaVarro (Bowman), London Fletcher, Brian Urlacher...”
It wasn’t like Wagner had an elaborate pitch to these legendary, and in Lewis’, Urlacher’s and Singletary’s cases, Pro Football Hall of Fame, NFL middle linebackers.
He just picked up the phone and said “Hi, I’m Bobby Wagner, second-round pick from Utah State.”
“Basically,” he said.
“I found a way to get their number, whether it’s through friends or agents or whoever. And I just tried to pick their brains,” Wagner said.
Wagner also got contacts from Richard Sherman, his Seahawks teammate Seattle drafted a year before the team selected Wagner, and from Ken Norton Jr. Norton was his first linebackers coach in the NFL with the Seahawks a decade ago.
“I really didn’t look at it as an impressive thing,” he said. “I just wanted to be good at football.
“I was blessed. There wasn’t a linebacker that turned me away when I asked for knowledge, when I was hoping that my career goes the way that theirs did.”
So when Witherspoon asked him all kinds of questions this preseason, Wagner “was making sure that I didn’t turn anybody.”
Yes, Witherspoon reminds Wagner of his 22-year-old self.
“For sure,” Wagner said. “That’s always a sign of a great player, being able to put your ego aside and have some humility, understand you don’t know everything and not be afraid to ask questions.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2023 at 4:29 PM.
