Carroll: Seahawks’ Witherspoon ‘left his mark’ again in Week 7 win

During Monday’s Pete Carroll Show on Seattle Sports, the Seattle Seahawks head coach spoke about how a defense full of young players is growing under the mentorship of legendary veteran linebacker Bobby Wagner.

Seattle Seahawks’ Carroll: Bobby Wagner ‘having a blast’ as D develops

One young player who’s proving that is rookie cornerback Devon Witherspoon, who keeps making his presence felt.

Witherspoon, leads the Hawks with an 88.5 overall defensive grade per Pro Football Focus, turned heads with both a sack and an interception in Sunday’s 20-10 win over Arizona – though both were negated by penalties by other Seahawks defended.

Still, he made the highlight reel with a bone-cracking hit-stick tackle on Arizona’s Rondale Moore.

Filthy. 🥄

📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/60EfiQiazJ

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) October 22, 2023

“He left his mark on that game even with those two big plays that didn’t come,” Carroll said. “The sack was just an overwhelmed quarterback for, I don’t know, it must’ve been a 15-20 yard sack or something. Unfortunate that he lost those marks, but the play still happened and he still had an effect. And he’s just getting started. He just needs more turns, more plays to get after it.”

After a shaky training camp during which Witherspoon nursed a hamstring injury, the No. 5 overall pick’s play has been nothing short of impressive, even garnering attention from teammate and former All-Pro defensive back Jamal Adams, who described the rookie as a “complete baller” when talking to the media after Sunday’s win. Like Adams did early in his career, Witherspoon has quickly established himself as a hard hitter out of the secondary.

Carroll is clearly a fan of it.

“The ribs hit, the decision to make that hit that cleanly with the shoulder tackle, there’s something to that now,” Carroll added. “There’s an awareness. Guys that don’t have that special awareness just cold-cock that guy helmet-to-helmet and the hit happens. But guys that have that extra bit of understanding of ‘this is how I have to do this to make this play work’ and to fit that in the end of the game, that’s a sign of awareness that has just another level to it.”

The Pete Carroll Show airs live at 9:30 a.m. Monday after Seahawks games during Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports. Listen to this week’s full edition in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post.

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