Devon Witherspoon versus
Devon Witherspoon versus
If all goes to plan, Seahawks CB Devon Witherspoon will face some of the best palyers in the NFL in 2024: Seaside Joe 1905
When I was a kid, I found nothing in sports more exciting than any day that Randy Johnson was pitching. “Randy Johnson vs. anyone” was the most thrilling moment in sports, to the point that lives were literally lost.
You could argue that other pitchers were harder to hit in the prime of their career, like Felix Hernandez for example, but with Big Unit you didn’t know if maybe you were going to see 20 strikeouts that night or witness something else historic or see an animal get killed. Nothing has ever come close to “Randy Johnson vs. anyone” and I don’t even like baseball anymore. The idea of watching nine innings on TV uninterrupted is offensive to me and I will report you to the police if you make me do it.
The ‘mano a mano’ or ‘womano a womano’ aspect of gamesmanship is what we’ve signed up for since the days of gladiators and nothing has changed in the hundreds of years of sports since then.
(Inevitably someone is going to tell me that ‘womano’ is not the grammatically accurate phrase to use but please understand I’m just playing around with words.)
Though football is a team sport, that “team” aspect is still an amalgamation of many one-on-one matchups; as I’ve always said, football is the best sport because it is an individual sport wrapped inside of a team sport.
Each aspect matters just as much as the other one. As we’ve heard from Bill Belichick, “Do Your Job” meaning that if each one person is executing their assignment, as a result the team will also win.
Perhaps nobody on the Seattle Seahawks will have more interesting mano a mano matchups to follow in twenty-twenty-quatro than Devon Witherspoon.
I don’t expect that Witherspoon’s weekly individual matchups will be as interesting as Randy Johnson in the mid-90s, but perhaps he can get up to the level of watching Richard Sherman in the first four years of his career and knowing that there’s a relatively good chance you’re going to witness an interception and probably some trash talk crystallized forever by NFL Films.
It is not easy to say right now where Witherspoon will be lined up each week in 2024. He played most of his snaps inside in 2023 and Mike Macdonald has other corners he can play at left and right, including Riq Woolen, Mike Jackson, Tre Brown, and Artie Burns. But I think it is safe to say that if an offense has one standout receiver on their offense that Macdonald’s best bet is to put Witherspoon on that player as much as possible. Witherspoon is versatile enough to play outside or inside and to trail a team’s best weapon.
Here is a projected Devon Witherspoon vs. for the 2024 season schedule:
Week 1, Broncos: Devon Witherspoon vs. Courtland Sutton
Sutton is in a contract dispute with Denver despite not being a very productive player in the past four years. The Broncos have one of the worst WR units in the NFL on paper, so Witherspoon could be matched up against Marvin Mims or rookie Troy Franklin.
Week 2, Patriots: Devon Witherspoon vs. Ja’Lynn Polk
The second round rookie Polk might actually be New England’s best receiver already. Seattle OC Ryan Grubb will have the best intel possible on how to stop Polk having coached him at UW the past two years.
Week 3, Dolphins: Devon Witherspoon vs. Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle
Having Riq Woolen and Witherspoon should be a huge benefit going against a unit including Hill, Waddle, and now Odell Beckham Jr.. But I have no hesitation to put Witherspoon on Hill and do believe that right now at their respective ages that the Seahawks might have the advantage here.
Week 4, Lions: Devon Witherspoon vs. Amon-Ra St. Brown
I wouldn’t even mess around. Put your best player on their best player and force Jared Goff to beat you with Jameson Williams, if he’s not hurt or on the DraftKings app.
Week 5, Giants: Devon Witherspoon vs. Malik Nabers
New York’s other top receivers are Darius Slayton, Jalin Hyatt, Allen Robinson, and Wan’Dale Robinson as of right now. But fans want to see the best players go face-to-face, so please just give us Spoon vs. Nabers.
Week 6, 49ers: Devon Witherspoon vs. Deebo Samuel
We saw a bit of Witherspoon against the 49ers when I wrote about his “corner stones” last week. It could be Brandon Aiyuk or even rookie first round pick Ricky Pearsall, but is anything as exciting as the potential for “physical vs. physical” between Spoon and Deebo? In the first meeting of these teams last year, the receivers were most shut down. In the second meeting between these two teams in 2023, Witherspoon left with an injury after only seven snaps and then Deebo had 149 yards and Aiyuk had 126 yards, while George Kittle had 76 yards with a touchdown. Macdonald can’t let that happen again.
Week 7, Falcons: Devon Witherspoon vs. Darnell Mooney
It sure seems like the better bet here is to put Woolen on Drake London. It makes for “easy” work on paper if Witherspoon’s assignment is slowing down Mooney and Rondale Moore. Maybe this would be the best week to use Witherspoon as a blitzer to take down Kirk Cousins and/or Michael Penix.
Week 8, Bills: Devon Witherspoon vs. Curtis Samuel
It’s amazing how unintimidating the Bills look without Stefon Diggs. That was probably going to be the case whether Buffalo traded Diggs or not because he wasn’t that intimidating in 2023. The Bills drafted Keon Coleman in the second round, but it would be surprising if he was Josh Allen’s top target this soon and his size might make him more of a Woolen matchup than Witherspoon.
Week 9, Rams: Devon Witherspoon vs. Puka Nacua
Witherspoon missed last season’s opener against the Rams (how much of a difference could he have made in that 30-13 loss? at least a little bit of a difference) and then he had one of his three sacks last year against Matthew Stafford in Week 11. Puka had five catches for 70 yards and a touchdown, but Cooper Kupp was held to one catch for 11 yards.
Week 11, 49ers: Repeat
Week 12, Cardinals: Devon Witherspoon vs. Marvin Harrison, Jr.
As noted in the image by PFF above, we might get to see a top-five pick last year go against a top-five pick in 2024…twice this season. Arizona’s other receivers are Zay Jones, Michael Wilson, Greg Dortch, and Zach Pascal. Please just give us Spoon against Harrison.
Week 13, Jets: Devon Witherspoon vs. Garrett Wilson
Despite playing in the Big Ten for four years, Witherspoon never played against Ohio State and he only went against Michigan once. There actually just aren’t many notable matchups to connect between Witherspoon in college that are repeating themselves in 2024. However, we can imagine that Witherspoon against Wilson is always a good show. The other top receivers on the Jets are Mike Williams and Malachi Corley.
Week 14, Cardinals: Repeat
Week 15, Packers: Devon Witherspoon vs. Romeo Doubs and Jayden Reed
Witherspoon actually did play against Reed, who transferred to Michigan State, in 2022. Reed had five catches for 68 yards and a touchdown.
It’s not clear how the pecking order will go in Green Bay between Doubs, Reed, and Christian Watson, but all are threatening in their own way.
Week 16, Vikings: Devon Witherspoon vs. Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison
Either matchup would be exciting to follow, but Witherspoon against Jefferson could be a preview of Offensive vs. Defensive Player of the Year.
Week 17, Bears: Devon Witherspoon vs. D.J. Moore, Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze
What a difference a year makes as Chicago goes from “We have a great excuse for Justin Fields: No weapons!” to maybe the best trio in the NFL at receiver. Witherspoon’s versatile skillset tells me that he’s able to cover any of these three players, so maybe he should just trail the hot hand.
Week 18, Rams: Repeat
A lot of receivers these days claim to have “that dog” in them. Well, in the words of Randy Johnson that I’m putting in his mouth now that he never actually said…”I ain’t a vet, I’m a trained killer.”
What would be the most exciting Witherspoon matchup on the 2024 schedule?
I can only make 5 options in a poll, so I’ll create another and then we can have an ultimate showdown later this week.
Sorry if I didn’t include the player most wanted…Courtland Sutton, Jaylen Waddle, OBJ, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, Jordan Addison, D.J. Moore, Keenan Allen, Cooper Kupp, etc. Only so much room! Want to say who I left out? Leave a comment.
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I might be the only one to vote Spoon v Nabers, but hear me out. Spoon could get multiple interceptions that game because of lack of weapons in New York. Nabers as a rookie with a mediocre QB could produce loads of impact plays for Spoon.
I think we might see a little bit of the match-up game, but I think mostly Mike Mac will just let them play their spots. If you move Spoon over to RCB and Woolen to LCB or some other spot, they are both playing out of position. I think they are both good enough to stay in their spots, and play who's in front of them. This assumes Woolen has successfully extracted his head out of his arse (reports say, as always, the procedure was a success).
In Year 1 I expect Mike Mac not to get too cute with the matchup game. Run the defense, do your job, play with extraordinary effort, and play tough. There's enough talent that he shouldn't often have to play the match up game very often.