The Seattle Seahawks could be doubling down on Devon Witherspoon’s style in their secondary following the loss of Riq Woolen in free agency.
PFF’s Trevor Sikkema has been raising the question of the Seahawks drafting national champion cornerback D’Angelo Ponds from Indiana. He first talked about it on his post-combine podcast (Timestamp 1:18:00), then doubled down on it yesterday following Woolen’s departure to the Philadelphia Eagles.
What makes Ponds so interesting for the Seahawks are his strikingly Witherspoon-esque traits, the likes of which bear as much resemblance to the latter as any player since he was coming out of Illinois in 2022. They’re both short yet spirited cornerbacks, were under-recruited out of high school, and played their way up draft boards. Ponds is nearly three inches shorter than Witherspoon, but weighs just as much and is as explosive a player as you’ll ever find. His 43.5 inch vertical jump at the NFL combine last month (click here for video) was the fourth-best mark by a cornerback in the event’s history. Witherspoon’s length isn’t quite as much of a low outlier, but his hands are- and vice-versa for Ponds. When watching them both on tape, though, the play style is uncannily similar.
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Some would argue that the Seahawks succeeded by having different profiles at cornerback opposite one another in Witherspoon and Woolen. If they wanted to stick to that strategy, they could target Devin Moore from Florida or one of the two University of Washington cornerbacks, Tacario Davis or Ephesians Prysock. Seattle also just committed to Josh Jobe with a new deal this week. However, Ponds seems like as much of a Seattle-style player as anyone in this draft. The idea of him joining Witherspoon is a dream worth discussing.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks could mirror Witherspoon with doppelganger CB D’Angelo Ponds