Seattle Seahawks meet with elite national-champion CB prospect

With Devon Witherspoon, Riq Woolen and Josh Jobe, the Seattle Seahawks' cornerback room is in pretty good shape heading into the NFL Draft.

That said, the Seahawks would be foolish not to at least do their due diligence on the corner prospects in this draft, and they now have their attention on arguably the best one.

According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the Seahawks hosted Michigan corner Will Johnson for a pre-draft visit on Wednesday. A Detroit native, Johnson is widely seen as the best cornerback prospect in this class and a potential top-10 pick.

Maize Team defensive back Will Johnson warms up during the spring game at Michigan Stadium. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

As a freshman All-American in 2022 and a first-team All-American in 2023, Johnson's body of work speaks for itself. In 32 career games, he had 68 total tackles, 10 passes defended and nine interceptions, three of which he returned for touchdowns. He even earned a second-team All-Big Ten selection in 2024 despite battling multiple injuries.

Johnson has good size for a corner at 6-2 and 194 pounds, and he moves very well for his size as well.

"Teams love big, fluid cornerbacks with ball production and that is exactly what Johnson offers," NFL.com's Lance Zierlein wrote in his scouting report. "He’s instinctive and plays with good body control and change of direction in space. He can play man coverage, but he’s at his best when playing with his eyes forward instead of chasing routes downfield.

"Johnson displays good pre-snap recognition and can read and anticipate routes/throws at a high level. While he plays the role of thief in coverage, he needs to balance that mentality with a healthy respect for NFL route-runners, as he might lack the recovery speed to close the distance at a desired rate. He has coveted traits and his areas of concern fail to stand out as impediments for what could become a long, successful career as a future Pro Bowler."

Johnson did not work with Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald during his time at Michigan, as the latter left his job as the Wolverines' defensive coordinator to take the same job with the Baltimore Ravens when the former arrived. However, they have worked with many of the same people.

It's very likely that Johnson isn't available for the Seahawks at No. 18 overall, but if he is, they may not want to pass him up, even if corner isn't their most pressing need.

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