A hamstring injury might have meant it took a little while for Devon Witherspoon's Seahawks career to get going.
But once Witherspoon has taken to the field, it has taken him no time to show why the Seahawks selected him fifth overall in April out of Illinois and as the second defensive player drafted.
Witherspoon's quick rise since he entered the lineup Week 2 against Detroit was further validated Wednesday when he was named as the NFC's Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in Seattle's 24-3 win over the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium — in what was just his third NFL game.
Witherspoon had two of Seattle's 11 sacks and a 97-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the third quarter when the Giants were threatening to score. That turned a 14-3 game into 21-3.
"First career pick, a pick-six on 'Monday Night Football,'" Witherspoon said later. "It don't get no better."
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, the play added a 17.3% win probability for Seattle (though it felt like more at the time), with Witherspoon traveling 117.3 yards overall (second longest of any NFL play this season) and hitting a top speed of 20.25 mph.
"He situated himself right between the two receivers that were doing their little return thing," Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. "I'm not sure who they were throwing to or they thought the guy would slide more, but he was right in the right spot and then just nailed it."
It is the second straight week Seattle has had a conference player of the week as running back Kenneth Walker III earned offensive honors for his play in a 37-27 win Sept. 25 over the Carolina Panthers.
And it is the second straight year a Seahawks rookie cornerback has won the award. Riq Woolen was honored in Week 6 when he had five tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery.
Among Witherspoon's sacks was sniffing out that receiver Parris Campbell appeared to be setting up to throw a pass. He also had one of the team's 10 sacks on QB Daniel Jones.
Witherspoon played most of the game at the nickel position and also some at left cornerback in the base defense. Ultimately, Witherspoon played all but 12 of the 75 defensive snaps Seattle had in the game at nickel.
He'd started the previous two weeks at left cornerback in his first two games after he missed all of the preseason and the regular-season opener against the Rams due to a lingering hamstring injury.
He made the move inside against the Giants due to injuries to Coby Bryant and Artie Burnes.
Witherspoon called playing nickel and outside against the Giants "a win-win for me because I can do both."
Carroll said there was no surprise in how Witherspoon performed Monday might.
"I've never thought he wouldn't play like this," Carroll said. "This is why we took him; to be active and to show that he gets this game of football, and this comes easy to him. He's an explosive, dynamic player. We got to put him in nickel for the first time. This was a process with getting him back out there. We didn't have enough time, we thought, to have him ready, although he's been working at it the whole time. He just did a great job again tonight, and you can see why we like him. We didn't have Artie tonight, we didn't have Tre Brown tonight, and so he had to do it all night long for us."
Witherspoon's 23 tackles are fourth on the team and his two sacks are tied with five others for first.
Witherspoon also earned a blistering 90.9 grade from Pro Football Focus, the second best of all cornerbacks in Week 4, as he allowed just three receptions on four targets for 19 yards — the other of which was the pick-six — for a passer rating of 44.8.
Since giving up a touchdown on a flea-flicker against the Lions in his first game, Witherspoon has allowed just eight receptions on 17 targets for 50 yards.
"A lot of this is natural skill and awareness that he could pick stuff up so soon and be so dynamic in there in such short order," Carroll said.
Witherspoon's comment about his interception mirrored what he said after being taken by the Seahawks, a pick that surprised some since cornerback hadn't been viewed as the team's biggest need, and many speculated Seattle might take Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter.
Instead, Seattle passed on Carter, banking on Witherspoon to help revitalize a defense that ranked 25th in points allowed and 26th in yards allowed in 2022.
The three points Seattle allowed Monday was its fewest since a 40-3 win Dec. 13, 2020, over the New York Jets at Lumen Field.
"It don't get no better than that," Witherspoon said the night he was drafted.
Carroll marveled Monday night, though, that it still could.
"He's just going to get better and better," Carroll said. "And so, it's a really, really exciting thing to watch for us and so we'll keep going with it."
Carroll was left beaming that in just 15 days Witherspoon had already seemed to validate Seattle's decision with what was its highest draft pick since 2009 and one of two first-round picks it received from the Russell Wilson trade.
"It was a beautiful job," Carroll said. "He showed me who he is."
And Witherspoon, while trying to downplay his big night, at one point stopped and admitted it was a night to remember.
"Just trying to soak it all in for sure," he said.
