Seahawks News: Devon Witherspoon, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Devin Hester

The Seattle Seahawks are having a fascinating offseason. They have removed Pete Carroll as head coach and replaced him with Mike Macdonald. In doing so, Seattle went from having the oldest head coach in the NFL to the youngest.

There are also quite a few things happening in the NFL in the lead-up to Sunday's Super Bowl. The yearly awards were announced and a Seahawk was involved. The 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame class was announced as well.

Now 12s just wait on who fills out Mike Macdonald's coaching staff. That should happen in the next week. But here is what has happened this week.

Three quick bit of Seattle Seahawks news

Did Devon Witherspoon get disrespected?

The NFL (with a lot of help from the Associated Press) announced their yearly awards on Thursday. Lamar Jackson was named MVP. Seahawks rookie cornerback Devon Witherspoon was one of the finalists for Defensive Rookie of the Year and while his winning was going to be a long shot, at least he could have finished in the top three.

Instead, no. Witherspoon got four first-place votes and finished fourth overall. The winner was Will Anderson, Jr. of the Houston Texans, Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Jalen Carter finished second, and third was Los Angeles Rams defensive lineman Kobie Turner. Was this fair to Witherspoon? Probably.

Witherspoon was excellent for most of the year, but he missed three games and only had one interception. Raw statistics matter to national voters. Perhaps the player who was disrespected most was Turner. He had 9 sacks and played the run well, too.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba cannot help himself

During Super Bowl week, Smith-Njigba has met with the media several times. During his conversations, he simply cannot stop himself from implying some disrespect toward former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. Waldron left the Seahawks after the season and is now the OC for the Chicago Bears.

In two interviews, JSN said the dismissive, "Good luck," to Bears fans about their hire of Waldron. In one interview, JSN had to ask if the interview was "live" before he started his Waldron answer. This implies there were some real issues behind the proverbial scenes with Seattle's offense last year. That also means maybe 2024 will be better.

Devin Hester named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Why am I bringing up Hester in a Seahawks article? He did play for Seattle for a very short time in 2016. He joined the team for two playoff games and was magnificent against the Falcons in Atlanta. He returned five kicks for an average of 38.8 yards per return. One return went for 78 yards and another for 50. He had one excellent punt return negated by a penalty.

Hester was named a finalist for the 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame class this week. He was arguably the best kick returner in the history of football during his years with the Chicago Bears. Of note, pass rusher Dwight Freeney was also named as a finalist and he also played for the Seahawks for a short time - four games in 2017 and had 3 sacks.

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