Seahawks' Devon Witherspoon snubbed from NFL Top 100 list

The annual NFL Top 100 Players list has officially been completed. It was a solid showing for the Seattle Seahawks, who managed to land four (well, technically three and one former) of their players on the list. The Seahawks to make it were:

• Julian Love (No. 95)
• Riq Woolen (No. 91)
• DK Metcalf (No. 84)
• Bobby Wagner (No. 59)

Ultimately, the 9-8 Seahawks did not have an outstanding year. Yes, they finished with another winning season… but were two missed fourth quarter Matt Prater field goals away from losing their final game of 2023 to the Arizona Cardinals. Yes, they were in playoff contention in the final week, but they were in that position because they dropped a winnable game to the Steelers the week before.

Still, despite all this, there should have been one more Seahawk on this list: star rookie cornerback Devon Witherspoon. After some questioned his lofty draft positioning, the No. 5 overall pick proved he was worthy of his selection and gave the Seattle secondary a dearly needed boost.

The frustrating aspect of Witherspoon not making it is the fact Riq Woolen did. Now, I must clarify immediately: I am, under no circumstances, not suggesting Woolen shouldn’t have made it! He was well deserving.

What I am saying is if Woolen made it, then so should have Witherspoon. Woolen and Witherspoon had similar stats, but a clear edge was to the rookie. Witherpoon had 79 total tackles, Woolen had 53. Witherspoon defended 16 passes compared to Woolen’s 11. Woolen did have one more interception (2 to 1) than Witherspoon, but Witherspoon logged three sacks compared to none for Woolen.

Just looking at the raw numbers tells us Witherspoon had a stronger season. The eye test does as well, considering at one point Woolen was actually benched for his issues tackling.

There are 1,696 active players in the NFL right now. Cracking into the Top 100 is no easy feat. But Witherspoon did everything he could in his rookie season to prove he belonged among the league’s elite.

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