Seahawks surprise (as usual): They bypass Jalen Carter, take Illinois CB Devon Witherspoon

Pete Carroll has said his Seahawks need to add a defensive lineman opposing offenses have to plan for, be alarmed about. A stud who can wreck a line and a quarterback.

So they chose...a cornerback. Just as everyone — (almost no one) — predicted.

The ongoing rebuild of Seattle’s front seven on defense this offseason took a pause. For one pick at the top of round one, anyway.

Seattle selected Devon Witherspoon from Illinois, regarded as the best cover cornerback in this 2023 draft, with the fifth-overall pick Thursday.

The Seahawks used almost all of their league-allotted 10 minutes before selecting Witherspoon as the first cornerback taken in this draft. General manager John Schneider entertained calls from other teams about possibly trading down out of the fifth spot.

That’s why Witherspoon said the call he got from the Seahawks was “shocking.”

“It kind of came a little late,” he said.

“They told me the culture that they have there, the ‘Legion of Boom,’ man, the history there. I know what it takes to be great like that.

“I’m just glad (they) chose me. I’m just glad to be a Seattle Seahawk. ...

“I’m energetic, physical. A dog on the field. I’m just very confident in what I do, passionate. I like to show my emotions out on the field.”

Witherspoon is the 14th cornerback Carroll and Schneider have drafted since they took over the team in 2010. He’s the first cornerback Seattle’s taken in the first round since Kelly Jennings in 2006, when the team was picking 31st months after playing in Super Bowl 40.

Witherspoon, a native of Pensacola, Florida, was one of the Seahawks’ 30 pre-draft visits each team can have in person with prospects leading up to Thursday.

He said the scenery of Seattle, the setting of the Seahawks’ facility on Lake Washington, the vibe inside the team’s headquarters impressed him.

“It was dope, man,” he said, adding he shot baskets on the basketball hoops at Seahawks headquarters on his visit.

“I’m just very happy. I’m excited.”

Carroll’s and general manager Schneider’s investigation of Jalen Carter obviously found more red flags.

Carter went ninth overall, to Philadelphia.

Why Witherspoon for Seattle?

Smaller than most Pete Carroll cornerbacks

At 5 feet 11 1/2 inches and 181 pounds with 31 1/4-inch arms, he is smaller than most cornerbacks Seattle has drafted under Carroll and Schneider. He is 4 1/2 inches shorter than Tariq Woolen, who Carroll draft in the fifth round last year and turned into a Pro Bowl cornerback.

But the Seahawks see a corner who not only tackles but enjoys it. Plus, the success Carroll had turning D.J. Reed from a smaller draft choice to a Seahawks starter a few year ago changed the 71-year-old coach’s thinking of prototypical cornerback size.

To that, Witherspoon said by telephone from the draft in Kansas City Thursday evening: “I’ve kind of been undersized all my life, so tackling is just what I do.”

He is known across the Big Ten as a brash, shutdown cornerback and one of the best tacklers at his position in this draft class. Many scouts consider his technique skills and skill on passes in flight as elite.

Rather than stay on one side, as Seahawks cornerbacks back to Richard Sherman typically have, Witherspoon for Illinois usually traveled across the field covering the opponents’ top wide receivers man to man.

The Seahawks will pair Witherspoon with Woolen in the most heralded young pair at one of the most vital, difficult positions to play in the pass-happy NFL.

“I’m excited to be across from that guy, man. He’s a ball hawk. He’s a very talented player,” Witherspoon said of Woolen. “I actually got the chance to play against him in college (Woolen played for Texas-San Antonio), so I know what he brings to the table.

“I mean, I’m just ready to go out there and compete with him, go out there and be a great duo on the field.”

The financial factor

Another factor in making Witherspoon their top pick: Increasingly, NFL teams are drafting from the outside first on defense. That’s because that’s where the most expensive positions on defense are. To defend all the passing in the league, edge pass rushers and cornerbacks who defend throws command the highest contracts in free agency.

If a team feels it has the chance to add elite talent at those rich outside defensive positions at the relatively inexpensive price of a slotted, rookie contract for four years (and possibly five, with the team’s option for a first-round pick) they increasingly take it.

Witherspoon will get a four-year contract worth about $8.3 million per season as the fifth pick. That’s slotted per the league’s collective bargaining agreement with its players.

Defensive tackles, and interior players on defense in general, are cheaper down the road, and thus not as big a financial advantage to draft high.

Witherspoon’s challenges

Witherspoon said he sees his biggest challenge is adjusting the pass-happy NFL’s rules that favor offenses, particularly the one prohibiting contact by cornerback beyond 5 yards past the line of scrimmage.

That’s something that took Woolen a while to adjust to last season as a rookie.

As expected, the Carolina Panthers began the draft Thursday by using the first pick they traded up eight spots for to select Alabama quarterback Bryce Young.

Then the Houston Texans chose Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud at two.

The third pick is what enabled the Seahawks to get Witherspoon.

Arizona didn’t need a quarterback; the Cardinals have QB Kyler Murray under a $230.5 million contract through 2028. So the Cardinals traded down to 12 with the Texans, and Houston used its new third-overall choice to draft Alabama elite edge pass rusher Will Anderson.

Anderson would have been a supreme fit in Seattle. Or anywhere.

Indianapolis used the fourth pick selected Florida’s Anthony Richardson to solve its quarterback issues. So the Seahawks didn’t even have the chance to choose the QB many wanted them to take.

That set up Seattle where Schneider and Carroll wanted to be.