Seahawks' Devon Witherspoon's run to greatness stalling in 2024

The Seattle Seahawks knew almost instantly they hit it big by drafting cornerback Devon Witherspoon. In Week 4 of last year, Witherspoon had two sacks, two tackles for loss, and a 97-yard interception return for a touchdown. He seemingly had announced he was one of the great young cornerbacks in the NFL.

He wasn't perfect, however. Sometimes, he was too aggressive and picked up needless penalties. He had five all of last year. He also allowed a decent, but not great, 87.6 quarterback rating. He had 10 passes defended and gave up four touchdowns.

Still, there was enough excellence to suggest that Witherspoon would be even better in his second season and under new head coach Mike Macdonald's scheme. Surely, Macdonald would know how to move Witherspoon around and maximize his athleticism and ability to create chaos for an offense. That has not happened.

Devon Witherspoon just one of the many pieces the Seahawks must fix

In Week 8 against the Buffalo Bills, quarterback Josh Allen was not afraid to throw at either Witherspoon or Riq Woolen and he did so with great success. Woolen allowed two touchdown passes, but Witherspoon gave up six completions on his seven targets. So far in 2024, Witherspoon has allowed a 76.2 percent completion percentage when targeted.

More worrisome is the young cornerback's tackling issues. In each of the past two games, Witherspoon has whiffed on three tackle attempts. After not missing any tackles in the first two weeks, he has a missed tackle percentage of 24.3 over the last six games. That is atrocious.

So what happened? Is this simply another example of a player going through a sophomore slump? If so, why Witherspoon? Macdonald has shown to be a very good defensive coach in the NFL, and even if the whole team has not performed well, individual players might still do well. Not Witherspoon and he is digressing as the season grows old.

The Seahawks simply are not capable of being good defensively with the cornerback playing near his best. Hopefully, we are seeing the worst of Witherspoon right now, but he needs to overcome his poor play, and Macdonald and the coaching staff need to help him.

Can they this season? Can the team overall be fixed after losing four of five games? We don't know. Maybe Witherspoon and Macdonald do not know either. Let's hope they have an answer, however, and that answer begins to show up in Week 9 versus the Los Angeles Rams.

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