Seattle, WA
Seattle Seahawks CB Devon Witherspoon Building Relationship With Mike Macdonald
Second-year cornerback Devon Witherspoon is the undisputed future of the Seattle Seahawks’ defense. As such, it’s important to find a coach that works well with him.
Luckily, new head coach Mike Macdonald fits the bill. The young, defensive-minded coach has built a strong relationship with his players in the months since his hiring, and ahead of the season opener on Sunday, it appears his bond with Witherspoon is among the strongest of any player.
“I’ve enjoyed it a lot,” Witherspoon told reporters Thursday. “Me and Coach [Mike Macdonald] get along very well. I ask all the questions I need to. He gives me all the details, whatever I need. The relationship, as far as you can ask those questions, the way he asked and he can explain it to me in a way that I can understand it. I think that’s what makes our bond special.”
A cornerstone of that relationship is Macdonald involving Witherspoon in game planning, a process they hope pays off come game day.
“We always think about it different ways so we can get to something,” Witherspoon said. “Say, if we’ve seen something on film and they might pick up on it, what we would say, ‘If they do this we could switch it,’ and ‘Run it this way,’ and stuff like that. We always come up with different schemes just in case a team get a tendency on us so we could just switch it up.”
Witherspoon, the No. 5 overall pick in last year’s draft, had a great rookie season with 79 total tackles, 16 passes defensed and an interception he returned 97 yards for a touchdown. The Illinois product finished fourth in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting, though many believe he should’ve won the award.
Now with Macdonald’s fresh perspective, WItherspoon expects a big year not only for himself, but for the team as a whole.
“I think that’s very important because a lot of players learn in specific ways, everybody doesn’t learn the same,” Witherspoon said. “You’ve got to be able to talk to your players one-by-one, each differently.
“One way may be a visual learner or a walkthrough learner. Everybody has got their own flavor that they like to do. For him to be able to break it down in a meeting and then be able to go out and walk through just to show us both sides of it is very dope. Then that’s easy for us because we can learn better.”
West Seattle pickleball players rallied this week as they ramp up opposition to Seattle Parks‘ Draft Outdoor Racquet-Sports Strategy, which would – among other things – change dual-striped courts at High Point and Alki to tennis-only. Next milepost along the way: Tomorrow night (Thursday, April 23), the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners – a city-convened advisory group – gets briefed on the “strategy.” Though board meetings usually have a public-comment period, the department is directing comments to the three feedback meetings (none in West Seattle, though some local advocates are trying to get one set up). The advocate who contacted us says they’re trying to “show their support to save these vital community resources. These courts are used by hundreds of people every week to stay active and connect with neighbors. We have no idea why the city would seek to do away with such highly used and inclusive gathering places.” They’re describing what they’re doing as a “WS-specific effort … aimed at saving pickleball at Walt Hundley and Alki. We are planning another larger rally on a weekend in Mid/Late May where we hope to turn out the entire West Seattle pickleball community and invite our local elected leaders and city officials to see how many lives are touched by pickleball in West Seattle.” In the meantime, they’re continuing to collect petition signatures here. Tomorrow night’s Parks Board meeting is being held in person downtown and via Zoom at 6 pm – attendance info is here.
over at Bleeding Green Nation. During the off-season, he’s been writing his mock
draft blog and just wrote up–a rather lengthy–mock pick for the Seahawks at
#32.
Personally, not enamored with the pick, but he does a VERY deep dive into the
offensive and defensive makeup of the Hawks, trying…
After months of build up, the Seattle Seahawks are less than 48 hours from being on the clock for their first pick of the NFL Draft, as long as they hold on to pick No. 32 in the first round.
Seahawks Draft: A mid-round edge rusher with elite length
While the offensive line has long been a need for the Seahawks in drafts, this year running back, edge rusher and cornerback are among their top positions of need.
Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard highlighted a pair of players who could help bolster the Seahawks’ edge group as he continued his draft profile series Tuesday during Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.
In this edition of Huard’s draft profiles, he looked at Michigan edge rushers Derrick Moore and Jaishawn Barham, who also played on the same team together in high school at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore.
Huard pointed to the connection head coach Mike Macdonald, a former Michigan defensive coordinator, and many members of his coaching staff have to the Michigan program.
“They know these guys, they know them inside and out,” Huard said. “They typically like they’re Michigan men, and these are two physical guys that have all the attributes you’re looking for on the edge.”
The high-floor pick
Moore is coming off a decorated four-year career at Michigan where he piled up 24.5 tackles for loss, 21 sacks, eight passes defended and three forced fumbles in 53 games.
This past season, the 6-foot-3, 255-pound Moore totaled 10.5 tackles for loss, 10 sacks and two forced fumbles while earning first-team All-Big Ten honors.
“I think this is a pretty fair quote about him: ‘Unselfish, well-rounded, high floor.’ Is he a high-ceiling guy? Not as much as Barham, but he’s a very high-floor guy,” Huard said.
NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah has Moore ranked as the No. 65 prospect in this years draft. ESPN has him ranked 60th.
“He is just your fierce, tough, edgy, productive (player),” Huard said. “He played in space a little bit more. They are field-boundary scheme at Michigan at times. He’s been more of the field rusher, more against your left tackle. And (he’s) just got more in the tool bag… He’s been a defensive end. He’s pretty well versed in it. He’s going to have a bigger tool bag, I think, than both Boye (Mafe) and Derrick Hall had, and he’s going to be a second, late-second-round (pick). Rugged, tough Michigan guy.”
The high-ceiling pick
Barham spent his first two college seasons at Maryland, which included earning Freshman All-American honors in 2022, and transferred to Michigan in 2024. He played linebacker at Maryland and in his first season at Michigan before making the move to edge for his final college season.
In 12 games at a new position in 2025, the 6-foot-3, 240-pound Barham amassed 10 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks.
“Jaishawn Barham is a little bit more of a wild card, and one of the scouts that was quoted in some of the prep for this said he may bloom with the right coaching,” Huard said.
Huard recalled seeing Barham as a freshman at Maryland while he was doing color commentary for FOX and being in awe of how physically mature he already looked.
“I remember being on the field, as a freshman, looking at him going, ‘There’s just no way. There’s no way humanly possible that that guy played high school football the year before,’” Huard said.
Jeremiah has Barham ranked as the No. 77 prospect in the draft. ESPN has him ranked 88th.
“He is a higher ceiling guy you’re going to have to coach up,” Huard said. “He doesn’t come with years and years and years of experience on the edge.”
Seattle Seahawks NFL Draft coverage
• An under-the-radar Seattle Seahawks need Brock Huard sees
• NFL Draft: What – and who – Seahawks could get by trading back
• Why Hasselbeck says Seahawks are in great spot to trade back
• Seattle Seahawks open to trading top pick for bigger draft class
• A player Seahawks could trade for another draft pick
-
Sports6 minutes agoWWE to hold premium live event in Saudi Arabia amid Iran ceasefire
-
Technology12 minutes agoToyota’s CUE7 robot shoots hoops using AI
-
Business18 minutes agoMrBeast company sued over claims of sexual harassment, firing a new mom
-
Entertainment24 minutes agoDataland, the world’s first museum of AI arts, sets opening date and first exhibition
-
Lifestyle30 minutes agoThe New Rules for Negotiating With Multibrand Retailers
-
Politics36 minutes agoBass, Barger meet with Trump to push for L.A. fire recovery funds
-
Science42 minutes agoContributor: Regulate the ‘Enhanced Games’ as a medical experiment and a marketing stunt
-
Sports48 minutes agoAre you still hoping to buy Olympic tickets? LA28 shares terms for second ticket drop