Seahawks Camp Preview: Will Devon Witherspoon, CB Group Fulfill Immense Upside?

RENTON, Wash. - Over the past three seasons, few NFL teams have found greater success drafting and developing cornerbacks than the Seattle Seahawks, who landed a pair of Defensive Rookie of the Year finalists in top-five pick Devon Witherspoon as well as fifth-round gem Riq Woolen.

In addition, with Witherspoon and Woolen already thriving together in the starting lineup, under the guidance of first-year coach Mike Macdonald, Seattle snagged former undrafted signee Josh Jobe off of waivers from Philadelphia last September and by October, he had stolen the third starting cornerback job away from Tre Brown as arguably the biggest surprise of the season. Those three players started 10 games together, playing a crucial role in the team’s rapid improvement in the second half ascending into a top-five scoring defense down the stretch.

While Woolen led the pack with three interceptions and Witherspoon and Jobe combined to generate only one pick, as a trio, they broke up 19 passes in coverage and each posted 11 percent or better forced incompletion rates. Witherspoon’s blitzing ability remained a weapon for Macdonald’s defense and Jobe brought improved tackling as a run defender to the equation.

Set to open the season with all three players under contract, Witherspoon believes continuity will be a major benefit for Seattle’s cornerback room in 2025, allowing Macdonald and the coaching staff to mix and match players in different alignments. Spicing up the playbook as a result, he’s optimistic that the next step forward will lead to better production, allowing the group to play to their full potential.

"We can rotate, we can line up anywhere, and we could play any coverage with those guys,” Witherspoon explained during OTAs in June. “We're just building on what we did last year. We know the playbook now, so now we just add all of the flavor to it."

For as well as Seattle’s cornerbacks played for the most part in 2024, however, Witherspoon, Woolen, and others wouldn’t be shy about voicing their opinions that the group can further elevate their performance moving into a new season. There’s still plenty of room to raise the bar, especially with more familiarity with the defensive scheme.

Teaching a complicated new playbook from scratch put some limitations on what Macdonald and defensive coordinator Aden Durde could do at times last year, especially in the first couple of months with players wading through water up to their eye balls. As Witherspoon acknowledged, mistakes were expected to be part of the equation as the entire unit tried to learn and master the system and cornerbacks weren’t exempt to the rule.

Though he made the Pro Bowl for a second straight season to open his NFL career, Witherspoon saw a significant decline in ball production compared to his rookie season, failing to record an interception while opposing passers completed nearly 15 percent more of their targets against him in coverage. He also recorded only a single sack, which the player partially attributed to opponents having a “good beat” of when he would be coming from the slot.

As for Woolen, the ex-UTSA standout performed better than he did in a disappointing sophomore campaign by hitting double digit passes defensed and cutting his missed tackle rate by nearly five percent. Still, he surrendered six touchdowns in coverage, the most in his career to this point, and for a second straight year under a different head coach, he briefly saw the bench due to frustrations about missed assignments.

For as much of a revelation as Jobe was emerging from practice squad signee to viable starter seemingly overnight, his performance started to slip a bit in the last few games as well, giving up at least a 60 percent catch rate in three of his last five games. This leaves plenty of room for improvement, and may explain why the Seahawks chose to bring back veteran Shaquill Griffin in June as competition to push him or even leapfrog him, a move that Macdonald foreshadowed after the second and final minicamp practice that closed out the offseason program.

“These are great battles going into the offseason. Now, I mean, are we not going to look to always improve our team in any aspect? No, we're always going to be out there and try to be in everything and chasing edges on making us better,” Macdonald said. “The guys that are with us right now kind of in that three, four, five spot is exciting. The guys are doing a great job, but go nail it this summer and come back and go compete your butt off.”

Contract situations can often bring out the best in NFL players with millions of dollars at stake, and if there’s another reason for optimism that the Seahawks can unlock another level of dominance at the cornerback position, all of their top dogs at the position have a great deal on the line beyond helping their team win in 2025. Witherspoon will be eligible to begin negotiating a new contract next spring with the chance of a fifth-year option being picked up, while Woolen, Jobe, and Griffin all have one year left on their respective deals and will be scheduled to hit free agency in March.

Particularly for Witherspoon and Woolen, this upcoming season presents a prime opportunity for them to not only ascend from Pro Bowl to elite All-Pro talents, but to potentially position themselves for top-five cornerback money. Whether or not Seattle would consider paying both players at that rate remains uncertain, but there should be a different level of urgency on the field this year for them, Jobe, and Griffin as they play for their futures either in the Pacific Northwest or elsewhere.

Heading towards the start of training camp, here’s a look at the Seahawks depth chart at cornerback, a camp storyline that bears watching, and a bold prediction for the upcoming season:

Depth Chart

Bouncing between the boundary and slot, Witherspoon gives Macdonald one of the most unique chess pieces to deploy at the cornerback position in the entire NFL. As the other clear starter at the position, Woolen transitioned from playing exclusively on the right side in his first two seasons in Pete Carroll’s defense to playing much closer to a 50/50 split in Macdonald’s scheme last season and will once again share duties on both sides, while Jobe or Griffin will jump into the lineup as the other boundary cornerback in nickel and dime sets.

In the reserve spots, Shemar Jean-Charles has the positional flexibility to play on the outside or in the slot, while second-year defender Nehemiah Pritchett will vie for a spot behind Woolen, Jobe, and Griffin as a boundary-only defender with Tre Brown and Artie Burns departing as free agents. Undrafted rookies Zy Alexander and Isas Waxter could be wild cards to watch as well, with the latter potentially having corner/safety hybrid versatility and both players having special teams backgrounds at the college level.

Camp Storyline to Watch

While Woolen and Witherspoon will see a 100 percent snap share as two of the pinnacles of Macdonald’s defense, the Seahawks could have an intense battle brewing for the third cornerback spot in nickel situations. Jobe only allowed one touchdown in coverage after coming over from the Eagles last season and posted a sub-10 percent missed tackle rate, providing positive contributions out of nowhere after being a practice squad addition originally. John Schneider wasted little time inking him to a new one-year deal as a restricted free agent, hinting he would be a big part of the team’s plans again.

But Griffin signed a contract worth up to $4 million last month, suggesting his new/former team had sights on him being more than a depth signing, and he had a resurrection season of sorts in Minnesota in 2024 with two picks as a rotational third cornerback. Even as he approaches his 30th birthday, Griffin has more athletic juice than Jobe and obviously brings significantly more starting experience in the league back with him to the Pacific Northwest, making this a fascinating battle to watch in July and August. It’s even possible the two players could split reps on the outside, something Macdonald did before in Baltimore.

Bold Prediction

Taking the giant step towards superstardom in his second season paired with Macdonald, Witherspoon will emerge as the NFL’s ultimate Swiss army knife with four interceptions, four sacks, and two forced fumbles while earning All-Pro honors, setting him up for a massive pay day in the near future.