Seahawks CB Devon Witherspoon flashed superstar potential in his debut: Film Breakdown
In this film breakdown, we take a look at Seattle Seahawks rookie CB Devon Witherspoon, who got his first start in Week 2 vs. the Lions.
Devon Witherspoon played tight coverage and had a few really nice plays in his NFL debut, including a 4th down PBU. Minus getting burnt for a flea-flicker TD (which the entire Seattle defense fell for), he played as well as you'd expect for the 5th overall pick.
As a whole though, Witherspoon is playing up to his draft slot, and if the Seahawks can get him and Tariq Woolen on the field at the same time, they very well could have the best CB duo in football.
Seattle Seahawks CB Devon Witherspoon Film Breakdown
Disclaimer: The following is a transcript of a YouTube video titled “Seahawks DB Devon Witherspoon Flashed Superstar Potential in his Debut: Film Breakdown" The content is for informational purposes only and was originally presented in video format.
Devon Witherspoon got his first start in week 2 and he gave up a couple plays, but he had a huge pass breakup on fourth down and on a snap to snap basis he was playing really tight coverage.
So overall, it was an impressive debut performance. I want to start at the end of Detroit's second offensive possession, it's 4th and 4, Seattle's in single high man coverage with two zone droppers underneath. Witherspoon's covering Sam LaPorta on the outside, and Detroit runs this slant flat combo where they send Kalif Raymond in motion, and he runs right off of Witherspoon's inside shoulder.
LaPorta fakes the outside release to widen him out, and then cuts inside on the slant. All of this is designed to create inside leverage for LaPorta as he breaks over the middle, but Witherspoon has inside help with Derek Hall dropping into the hook, so he just needs to recover by the time LaPorta reaches the hash and Goff works back to his side of the field.
LaPorta tries to sit down between these two hook defenders, watching it back, I don't even think he knew that Witherspoon was behind him in man coverage, But he plays this with perfect timing, he gets his right hand on the back of the jersey, and wraps around with the offhand to break up the pass and get the defense off the field.
So, great start, but they did score a touchdown on him in the next drive, and it was a really good job by the Lions of using Devon Witherspoon's strengths against him. Witherspoon's a physical and aggressive run defender. You can see early in the game, they run a toss to Jahmyr Gibbs. Daryl Taylor is able to hold his ground in the C gap and force Gibbs to bend outside and then Witherspoon closes in for the tackle.
And then a couple drives later we get a really interesting 3 play sequence. First play they run power with Jahmyr Gibbs. Witherspoon does a great job shedding this block from Josh Reynolds. He isn't able to finish the tackle, but he slows him down enough, and it's a four yard gain.
The second play, he's covering Josh Reynolds on this in breaking route, and I use the word route loosely because he just barrels into him, he doesn't really try to create any separation. But the refs call Witherspoon for pass interference, I don't think this should have been a penalty, Witherspoon's entitled to his space.
You can see Reynolds is the one who initiates the contact. If anything Devon Witherspoon is trying to disengage and play the ball… But they throw the flag. Now you've got a rookie corner in his first start on the road. He's an aggressive run defender. He just got called for DPI. That's the perfect setup to target him on a flea flicker.
So the next play, they hand it off to Jahmyr Gibbs. As Witherspoon's coming down to fit the run, Kalif Raymond leaks out through the seam and gets over the top for the touchdown. So obviously not a good play from Devon Witherspoon, but pretty much everyone on Seattle's defense fell for this. Quandre Diggs could have impacted the play if he maintained his depth. And it's a great job by Ben Johnson of putting Witherspoon in a vulnerable situation.
So he had the trick play touchdown and a questionable pass interference call, but the rest of the game was about what you would expect for the fifth overall pick. Right here, the lines are running a flood concept to the right side. You get this underneath route to occupy the curl flat defender. The clear out corner occupies the deep safety, and then it's just Devon Witherspoon in a side turn covering this deep out.
Anytime your body's pointed in the opposite direction of the receiver's break, that's never ideal, but he's able to stop on a dime, really just one step of delay between himself and the receiver. And he has the fluidity to sink his hips and mirror the outside brake. Good job making contact with the left hand to feel the route and help him turn without grabbing at the jersey.
You can see this only assists him with his own movement. It doesn't disrupt the route break at all, Jared Goff's eyes are on this deep out, but Witherspoon has it covered and he has to check it down. Now this still ends up being a first down because all these underneath defenders are getting depth and covering grass. There's no routes developing on that side of the field and the running back has a lot of space to work with.
This is the kind of rep for Devon Witherspoon that doesn't show up in any stat, but the coaches notice this for sure.Right here. The lines are running double digs with a deep out from the single receiver side. The Seahawks send pressure from the slot and that gets home so Jared Goff isn't able to work the entire field But he loves throwing this backside dig.
Bobby Wagner gets in front of the first endbreaker, which should create an opening for the second dig route against a corner with outside leverage, but Witherspoon's glued to the receiver's hip. He knows this break is gonna be inside because they don't really have the space or time to hit a deep corner to the far side of the field, and he stays in phase and sticks with them the entire play.
I gave Witherspoon a pass for the DPI early in the game, but this play I think could have been a penalty. The coverage is perfect until the last second, it's fourth and two, again he's in catch coverage where he gives about five yards of cushion, waits for the receiver to close the distance, and then gets in phase. Good job being physical at the top of the route and not letting that initial contact knock him backwards. He keeps his weight displacement on the balls of his feet so he's ready to accelerate and stick with the break.
And he stays with him across the field. But at the last second, his feet get tangled up and they both fall down. So great coverage rep. Maybe a penalty at the last second but I guess they decided it wasn't catchable. He gave up 2 more receptions. This first one he's impressed man on Josh Reynolds Good job staying over the top and punching at the inside shoulder, but anytime you're covering a vertical route and you're a full step in front of the receiver, you gotta assume that they're gonna cut that off to a back shoulder fade.
About ten yards downfield, Witherspoon drops his hands and gets out of phase and turns his back to the receiver. And because he released contact, he can't feel out the break and Reynolds is able to get separation. And then this is a great play design from Ben Johnson. The Seahawks are in cover three, so Witherspoon has the deep third, which is just any vertical route to his side. And then you've got Coby Bryant in the curl flat, and Wagner in the middle hook.
The tight end runs a sit route to occupy Bobby Wagner, and then they're faking a fake screen, so Josh Reynolds turns around and hangs in the flat. Coby Bryant sees Amon-Ra St. Brown released vertically, ad he doesn't have to carry that downfield, so his responsibility is breaking to the flat. Devon Witherspoon is watching for a vertical route to the outside, the fake screen slot fade concept is popular at all levels of football, so he sees St. Brown widening out and accelerating.
He has to keep outside leverage and stay over the top if he is running deep but that creates space for St. Brown to cut this off to a curl and get the first down the easy problem to point out here is that you can't allow free releases into zone coverage, so Coby Bryant needs to make contact and reroute St. Brown before he breaks to the flat.
But once Witherspoon knows the number one isn't vertical, he should be more aggressive closing the space horizontally so he can stay tight to a curl route, but also maintain outside leverage if he runs to the seam. So that was Devon Witherspoon's debut. There was definitely more good than bad.
The flea flicker touchdown does point to one of his few negatives as a prospect, which is over aggressiveness when it comes to biting on play action. It is kind of fluky, but he needs to play the pass and make sure there aren't any receivers leaking out before he fits the run. But from a pure coverage perspective, I thought he was really good in his first start.
He was physical at the line of scrimmage, he didn't allow very much separation at the route break, and he did a good job playing the football when he got his opportunities.
So, it's been a rough start for the Seahawks defense, and I have concerns about the linebackers and safeties and coverage, but I'm still confident in this cornerback duo And hopefully one of these games we get to see Woolen and Witherspoon on the field at the same time.
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