The gut-check: 3 things we learned from Seattle Seahawks Week 2 win over Detroit

Devon Witherspoon is probably going to be a stud in this league.

Yes, you can put your pitchforks away and close that tab with the Jalen Carter highlight video. Witherspoon got his first action after missing Week 1 and most of training camp with a bad hamstring, and he did not disappoint.

First, let's address the elephant in the room here. Yes, Witherspoon did get beat on that flea flicker the Lions scored on. He got a little too anxious to go help in run support in a cover 3 scheme where his help is conditional on the fact that he'll be there to bracket his assignment to the outside so Diggs has a play on the ball. Witherspoon was obviously not there, so Jared Goff had all the room in the world to lead Kalif Raymond as far toward the boundary as he needed to.

Other than that one play, though, that energy to be anywhere on the field he needs to be suited the Fighting Illini product well. He was otherwise excellent in coverage, and his twitched-up, gung-ho style brought some much-needed energy to a defense that badly lacked in energy last week.

We were told at the beginning of the season that Witherspoon would mostly play nickel, but with Riq Woolen going out early with a chest injury, he was moved outside, away from Amon-Ra St. Brown, potentially avoiding a "welcome to the NFL game," but also robbing me, personally, of a chance to see where he's at specifically against star-level opponents.

That aside, his performance leaves me excited to see more. The Panthers don't have a ton of star power at the receiver position yet, but they do have a lot of physical talent between second-rounder Jonathan Mingo, the long-underrated Laviska Shenault, and Terrace Marshall, who I once hoped Seattle would draft with the pick that ultimately became Dee Eskridge.

Witherspoon is physically gifted, himself, but not unusually so for his position. It should be a good test for him, and I'm excited to see how he does.

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