Steelers Scouting Report: Illinois CB Devon Witherspoon
The Pittsburgh Steelers could bring a hard-hitting, true-blooded cornerback to their secondary this NFL Draft.
Originally an unheralded recruit out of Pensacola, Florida, Devon Witherspoon enrolled at Illinois late in the process. He didn't need too much time getting up to speed, starting a handful of games as a freshman, with his role growing larger as each season passed.
After being named All-Big Ten following an impressive 2021 campaign, Witherspoon put himself firmly on the NFL Draft Map entering the fall. A fourth-year junior, now the leader on one of the best defenses in the country, Witherspoon dominated in his final season in Jacksonville, rightfully earning a reputation as one of the best cover corners in all of the land.
There was little doubt that his play would earn him a spot in the Senior Bowl All-Star game where Witherspoon will have a chance to boost his stock even further in front of all 32 NFL teams. One of those teams in attendance will be the Steelers who currently don't hold many long-term options at the cornerback position. After taking a deep dive into his film, I examine whether or not he makes sense as a potential target.
Let's first take a look at how Witherspoon was used within defensive coordinator Ryan Walters's system. If you're unfamiliar with their style, the entire philosophy in the back end is built on the ability to be physical and aggressive in man coverage. Illinois played man coverage on essentially 75% of their defensive snaps in 2022, the highest mark of any team in the power five.
This was music to Witherspoon's ears, fitting right in line with his strengths as he was the primary starter outside for the majority of his career. While most of his reps have come out on the boundary, Witherspoon does have some experience kicking inside to the slot, with most of those opportunities coming in his final season.
It's important to note that there were also instances where Witherspoon was tasked with traveling with elite wide receiver competition, shadowing them all over the field.
Strengths
From a mental makeup perspective, you won't find cleaner secondary prospects than Witherspoon. He's a coach's dream as he's ultra-competitive with a motor that simply doesn't stop to pair with confidence that never wavers. Witherspoon is confident in his skills against whoever lines up across from him, and he's a big-time trash talker who loves to play mind games to try and get under the skin of his opponents between the lines.
When playing defensive back, it's imperative to have a short memory to move on from negative plays instead of letting those stack together. Witherspoon bounces back from bad reps in an encouraging fashion.
Watching Witherspoon work in coverage within a defense that plays a lot of single-high safety shells, you immediately appreciate the difficulty of the assignments that he is regularly given. Even more impressive, he also seems to rise to the occasion. He'll challenge receivers at the line of scrimmage, switching up his techniques between an "inch" technique and a "step-kick" technique depending on his pre-snap plan. When motoring out at the line, Witherspoon's feet are quick and light, barely lifting off of the ground while staying low in his pedal and in front of the receiver before their initial release.
When opting to use more of an old-school kick step, Witherspoon will mix in one and two-hand jabs to get physical with receivers while looking to throw off the timing of the route. When asked to carry receivers vertically, he'll establish contact with his inside arm and has shown the propensity to look and lean on throws down the sideline.
There are tons of off-man coverage reps on film, and some of his best work comes in these instances. This is also where you see his supreme aggressiveness come into play and he'll slowly pedal out without giving up too much cushion and shows an understanding of when to take his leverage steps during the receiver's route stem.
The short area quickness and change of direction ability are one of his most redeeming qualities as a player as he possesses a lightning-quick trigger to get downhill in a hurry to make an impact at the catch point. An instinctual player who clearly does meticulous work in the film room, Witherspoon displays a good feel for route concepts before they unfold.
There aren't many zone coverage reps to observe on film because of the scheme that he was entrenched in, but it's relatively clean tape nonetheless. Illinois did look to mix in some cover two looks and Witherspoon will relish the opportunity to use his length and physicality to aggressively re-route receivers entering his area. He didn't get the opportunity to regularly hone in on quarterbacks' eyes much, but when he was placed in those situations, he proved capable of reading them like a book, stepping in front of passes to create splash plays for his defense.
Another redeeming quality of Witherspoon's game has been his absurd ball skills and production. He's sticky in coverage, regularly in phase, and glued to the hip pockets of receivers and has a knack for using his length to get in the passing lanes to create chaos.
There weren't any examples of Witherspoon failing to find the football and in fact, he more often than not turns into the aggressor in those contested catch situations, looking to bully players at the catch point. There's a right place, right time aura about him and he's incredibly pesky to test in coverage because he'll make you pay for ill-advised decisions.
As if the coverage prowess wasn't enough to get you excited, Witherspoon's physicality also carries over to the run game. As mentioned above, he plays with his hair on fire, flowing beautifully to the football and inserting himself into the action whenever possible. For a corner with such a slight frame, Witherspoon also has legit stopping power, minimizing yards after contact by laying the boom on ball carriers and receivers alike.
Play recognition skills are off the charts, and he's disruptive in the screen game as well. He's a solid tackler who takes good angles to minimize explosive run plays.
Weaknesses
It's no secret that Witherspoon is a really talented player, but his measurables aren't going to be anything to write home about, with just average size and length for outside cornerbacks. He plays bigger than this, but he's really skinny with an extremely slight frame, and sub-180 pounds corners are a scarcity in the league.
He was mostly able to minimize this in college with physicality, but he can be bumped off the break point due to his size deficiencies. To go along with that, Witherspoon's 40 time isn't likely to blow anyone away either, and I'd guess he runs somewhere in the low-mid 4.5 range, and with cornerback being a "stopwatch" position, this will be an important aspect of his evaluation.
This also shows up on tape as he has shown the ability to stay on top of most receivers consistently, but he lacks that top-end gear to hang with the speedsters and is unable to recover whenever he makes a mistake earlier in the rep. Witherspoon is a tricky evaluation because these numbers won't hit the thresholds that some NFL teams typically stick to for the position.
The aggressive nature of his play is what makes him special, but it also can create some problems. Witherspoon can be grabby and overly physical down the field, creating unnecessary contact between him and the receiver. In college, they are more apt to swallow the whistle in these scenarios, but in the NFL, any substantial contact past the five yards contact window will draw a flag immediately. He was flagged for six penalties this past season, and it could have easily been double digits. Opposing tested him a couple of times on double moves with mixed success.
From a technical standpoint, Witherspoon's motor technique near the line of scrimmage is fine, but he can be a little all over the place in bump-and-run or when using a kick-step technique. He can occasionally be over-eager and lunge with two-hand jams that whiff and there are also times when he'll lead his one-hand stabs will miss the target, and he'll lock his hips out.
His footwork at the line in press needs to be more consistent at the next level as his false steps will be magnified against bigger, faster and better athletes. In off-coverage, Witherspoon loves to play flat-footed, even in times where they weren't in cover 0 and while this worked in his favor more times than not, he'll need to remain more diligent about maintaining his cushion against better athletes.
Numbers to Note
- Career totals: 41 games played, 157 total tackles, five interceptions and 25 pass breakups
- 2022 totals: 12 games played, 41 total tackles, three interceptions and 14 pass breakups
- 425 coverage snaps in 2022, allowed just 22 completions on 63 targets (PFF)
- 18 forced incompletions in 2022, second most among power five cornerbacks (PFF)
- 321 man coverage snaps in 2022, allowed just 13 catches for 115 yards and 0 touchdowns (PFF)
Projection
Witherspoon's production in 2022 was off the charts and exactly the type of campaign that he was looking for in order to boost his draft stock. His short-area quickness, competitiveness and ball skills will make him a coveted NFL prospect. There will be questions about his lack of size and speed, some of which he can answer when he heads to the NFL Combine, but Witherspoon's tape firmly places him in the first-round conversation.
Some teams may elect to force him inside, and while I'm confident that he can latch on in that role, he deserves at least a shot to try his hand outside first. He might not be a fit for every NFL defense, but there are plenty of translatable traits to get excited about as he displays the exact temperament and demeanor that you look for in starting cornerbacks at the next level.
From a Steelers perspective, Witherspoon might make a good bit of sense when you consider their drastic shift to more of a man coverage-based defense. We already know that Teryl Austin's main focus in the back end has been to increase the number of takeaways which certainly came to fruition in 2022 when Pittsburgh lead the entire NFL in interceptions.
When you factor in his experience in man coverage and the amount of times he gets his hands on the football, Witherspoon could become a really attractive option with one of their first picks in April's NFL Draft.
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