.png) Witherspoon in 2023 | |||||||||||||||
| No. 21 –Seattle Seahawks | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Cornerback | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born: | (2000-12-11)December 11, 2000 (age 24) Pensacola, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 185 lb (84 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | Pine Forest(Pensacola, Florida) | ||||||||||||||
| College: | Illinois (2019–2022) | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 2023: 1st round, 5th pick | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
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| Roster status: | Active | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics as of Week 18, 2024 | |||||||||||||||
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Devon Marquis Witherspoon (born December 11, 2000) is an American professionalfootballcornerback for theSeattle Seahawks of theNational Football League (NFL). He playedcollege football for theIllinois Fighting Illini, where he was named theBig Ten Defensive Back of the Year in 2022. Witherspoon was selected by the Seahawks fifth overall in the2023 NFL draft.
Devon Witherspoon attendedPine Forest High School inPensacola, Florida. Initially concentrating his athletic abilities on basketball, Witherspoon did not begin playing football until his junior year of high school.[1] As a senior in 2018, he was thePensacola News Journal Defensive Player of the Year after recording 74 tackles, seveninterceptions and twotouchdowns.[2] He committed to playcollege football atUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.[3]
Witherspoon was the only true freshman to start on defense for theIllinois Fighting Illini in 2019.[1] He wound up playing in every game, making 33 tackles. As a sophomore in 2020, he recorded 33 tackles and two interceptions.[4][5]
He played and started 10 games his junior year in 2021, finishing with 52 tackles and one sack.[6] Witherspoon returned to Illinois his senior year in 2022, beginning the year as theBig Ten Conference leader in passes defended.[7]
A supremely confident player, Witherspoon was regarded as the leadingtrash-talker on the Fighting Illini team during his tenure. When asked about the biggest talkers on the squad, offensive teammateIsaiah Williams joked that "Spoon is number one. Spoon is at one and then we go to like five."[8]
"I gotta talk, it's just me. I can't live without doing it," Witherspoon acknowledged.[8]
During his senior year Witherspoon was named one of twelve finalists for theJim Thorpe Award, presented to the nation's top defensive back.[7] He was selected as the 2022Tatum–Woodson Defensive Back of the Year, an award given to the top defensive back in the Big Ten Conference, and was named a consensusAll-American at the season's conclusion.[9]
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 ft11+1⁄2 in (1.82 m) | 181 lb (82 kg) | 31+1⁄4 in (0.79 m) | 8+7⁄8 in (0.23 m) | 4.45 s | 1.58 s | 2.55 s | ||||||
| [10][11] | ||||||||||||
Witherspoon was selected by theSeattle Seahawks fifth overall in the2023 NFL draft.[12] The Seahawks obtained this draft pick as part of the blockbuster trade that sentRussell Wilson to theDenver Broncos in theprevious offseason.[13]
In Week 4 of the 2023 season, Witherspoon recorded his first career interception on a pass from quarterbackDaniel Jones in a 24-3 win against theNew York Giants. He returned the interception 97 yards for a pick-six,[14] the second-longest pick-six in team history, the longest being a 98 yard pick six byBobby Wagner against theSan Francisco 49ers in Week 13 of the 2018 season.[15] That same game, Witherspoon became the third rookie in NFL history to record 2.0+ sacks and a pick-six in a single game, along withTodd Shell andAndy Katzenmoyer, and the first player, rookie or not, to record both 2.0+ sacks and a 95+ yard pick six in a game since sacks became an official stat in 1982.[16] For this performance, Witherspoon wonNational Football Conference Defensive Player of the Week.[17] As a rookie, he appeared in 14 games and started 13. He finished with three sacks, 79 total tackles (56 solo), one interception, 16 passes defended, and one forced fumble.[18] He was named to the PFWA NFL All-Rookie Team.[19] He earned Pro Bowl honors.[20] He finished the 2024 season with one sack, 98 tackles, and nine passes defended.[21]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | PD | Int | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | FF | FR | ||
| 2023 | SEA | 14 | 13 | 79 | 56 | 23 | 3.0 | 16 | 1 | 97 | 97.0 | 97T | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2024 | SEA | 17 | 17 | 98 | 66 | 32 | 1.0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Career | 31 | 30 | 177 | 122 | 55 | 4.0 | 25 | 1 | 97 | 97.0 | 97T | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
