National Football League

Seattle Seahawks select Devon Witherspoon No. 5 overall

Updated Apr. 27, 2023 8:54 p.m. ET

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The Seattle Seahawks selected cornerback Devon Witherspoon with the No. 5 overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft. 

The 6-foot ball hawk out of Illinois was a 2022 Consensus All-American and was one of three finalists for the Jim Thorpe Award. Witherspoon was also the first ever defensive back to be named a Consensus All-American in Illinois history after totaling five-career interceptions, 116 solo tackles, and 43 assisted over the course of his four-year career.

Illinois DB Devon Witherspoon Highlights | 2023 NFL Draft

Watch Illinois Fighting Illini's defensive back Devon Witherspoon highlights.

Here's what FOX Sports NFL Draft analyst Rob Rang had to say about Witherspoon:

Overview: Unlike the vast majority of the cornerbacks on this list, Witherspoon signed with Illinois amid very little fanfare, slipping through the online recruiting databases following a high-school career focusing mostly on basketball. The Illini were his only Power Five offer and he didn’t join the team until midway through the fall camp. Nevertheless, once Witherspoon committed to football, the Pensacola native’s athleticism and competitiveness were unleashed and he wasted little time blasting past whatever expectations there may have been for him, becoming the only true freshman to start a game for the Illini in 2019. He started three contests (playing in all 13) and recording 33 tackles, including two passes defensed. 

Witherspoon would go on to start all 29 of the games in which he was healthy over the next three seasons, ranking among the Big Ten’s leaders with nine passes broken up in 2021 before taking his game to another stratosphere in 2022, when he was named the conference’s Defensive Back of the Year and a consensus All-American with 17 passes defensed, ranking second in the Big Ten and sixth in the nation.

Strengths: A tenacious competitor who sticks in the hip pocket of receivers downfield and seems to relish his opportunities to prove he is more physical than his frame suggests against the run as well, Witherspoon may have been named the Big Ten’s Defensive Back of the Year simply because no one was willing to argue with him about it. In all seriousness, he plays the role of agitator beautifully, corralling receivers at the mesh point with long arms and easy acceleration off either foot, mirroring their movements and clouding their view of the ball at the critical moment with long arms and excellent hand-eye coordination to deflect passes. Witherspoon is the rare cornerback who might be even better as a tackler than he is in coverage. He is a heat-seeking missile who craves contact, attacking in run support and as a blitzer.   

Concerns: Witherspoon eased some concerns about his straight-line speed with 4.4s at his Pro Day, but that doesn’t change his tape, which shows a grabby, gambling defender called for penalties six times in 2022, according to Pro Football Focus. He was flanked by a terrific pass rush and two NFL-caliber safeties, allowing plenty of opportunities to jump routes. Witherspoon plays with zero regard for his own safety and, while that can be a good thing, he has a relatively spindly frame and missed three games over the 2020-21 seasons due to injuries. 

Bottom Line: Witherspoon probably ranks as one of the favorite players in this class for a lot of scouts, as few can match his ferocity as a competitor. Witherspoon was the best player on the best defense in football last year. Man or zone, press or off, he’s a Day One tone-setter. 

Grade: Top 10 

NFL Draft coverage from FOX Sports:

• Jason McIntyre's mock draft: Colts pick Will Levis; how high does Jalen Carter go?
• Carmen Vitali & David Helman mock draft: Two trades up for QBs in top 3 shake things up
• Colin Cowherd's mock draft: Predicting top 10 picks
• FOX Sports football writers mock draft: Making all 31 first-round picks
• Greg Auman's mock draft: C.J. Stroud still No. 1, shakeup among top 10
• Carmen Vitali & David Helman mock draft: How do free agents affect projections?
• Rob Rang's prospect rankings, board: 100 best available players
• Positional rankings: QB, RB, WR, CB, EDGE, DT, G/C, OT
• Joel Klatt's Top 50 NFL Draft prospects
• Chris 'The Bear' Fallica's best NFL Draft prop bets and picks

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