Seahawks Trade CB Ahkello Witherspoon to Steelers

In a very surprising move, the Seahawks have parted ways with one of their biggest free agent additions of the offseason.

The Seahawks' competition at left cornerback severely underwhelmed in the preseason and the team is not sitting on their hands about it. After adding Sidney Jones via trade and Nigel Warrior off waivers, Seattle has now subtracted from its group of corners.

According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero, the Seahawks have traded cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon to the Steelers for a fifth-round draft pick in 2023. 

This, frankly, came out of left field. The Seahawks signed Witherspoon to a one-year, $4 million contract this offseason and gave him the opportunity to start on the left side opposite D.J. Reed this preseason. Witherspoon failed to impress, however, and the team has since gone with Reed and Tre Flowers as their starters in this week's trio of practices.

Appearing in 66 snaps in the preseason, the University of Colorado alum surrendered three receptions on eight targets for 53 yards. A large chunk of that came on a 35-yard catch-and-run by Broncos receiver Jerry Jeudy in the second week of the preseason.

While it was clear as to why he lost his grip on the starting job, his exit from the Pacific Northwest is still a curious one. Even with Reed and Flowers now seemingly at the top of the depth chart, there's still a great deal of uncertainty in that group. But the Seahawks have made their stance clear and felt it was best to move on without one of their more noteworthy free agent acquisitions this year.

With the trade, the Seahawks free up $1.5 million in salary cap space. Per OverTheCap.com, that would give them $8.6 million in total.

Seattle is set to face Witherspoon and Pittsburgh in Week 6 of the regular season on Sunday Night Football.