Friday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Steelers continued to stay busy making roster moves as general manager, Kevin Colbert pulled off a trade with the Seattle Seahawks for CB Ahkello Witherspoon. The Steelers sent a 2023 fifth round pick in exchange for the fifth-year corner.
Witherspoon was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the third round after playing three years at the University of Colorado. He signed with the Seahawks this off-season on a one-year deal, but they elected to trade him to the Steelers before the regular season.
Coming out of college, Witherspoon was viewed as a good athlete with excellent size (6'3"), but considered raw as he just started playing football as a senior in high school. He also was viewed by most as a very poor tackler at the time.
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Now, after spending four seasons in the NFL, Witherspoon has had some highs and lows with his performance. At times he looks like an excellent cover corner who can be an every down player. On the other hand, he also has shown some of the same raw characteristics that people saw in college.
Witherspoon is almost exclusively an outside cornerback that can work in both press and off man coverage very effectively. The main thing in coverage is his consistency as some reps his technique is picture perfect and others he continues to attack the wrong side of the receiver when the ball is in the air. I think this is from him constantly wanting to attack the ball instead of the player as he is very aggressive when going after the ball.
He also plays the ball very well when it is in the air and has plus ball skills as a whole, which is good due to how aggressive he is going for it. He has shown many examples of adjusting to the ball while it is in the air and using his athleticism to make a play. He has 4 career interceptions across 47 games in the NFL.
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Maybe the most important tribute to determine if he will cut it on the Steelers is if he has improved his tackling since coming into the league. Good news, it appears he has made significant strides in this regard.
There are several examples in his tape where he has been a very willing tackler and willing to fight through blocks in the run and screen games. He even has a little bit of a pop that you didn't see in his college tape when making tackles at the catch point.
Overall, Witherspoon will likely start off by serving as a depth piece with some playing time in the Steelers dime package. Based on his tape, he is probably going to struggle to beat out James Pierre based off the level of play we have seen from Pierre, but should be able to beat out Justin Layne.
The Steelers added much needed depth to a shallow cornerback room by getting an aggressive cornerback with a decently high ceiling if he becomes more consistent in coverage.
Let us know below what you think of the Steelers adding Witherspoon in exchange for a 2023 fifth round pick!
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