{"id":909617,"date":"2026-06-01T05:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T10:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/football-debate-club-devon-witherspoons-top-3-cb-case-has-the-tape-but-not-yet-the-box-score\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T05:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T10:12:15","slug":"football-debate-club-devon-witherspoons-top-3-cb-case-has-the-tape-but-not-yet-the-box-score","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/football-debate-club-devon-witherspoons-top-3-cb-case-has-the-tape-but-not-yet-the-box-score\/","title":{"rendered":"Football Debate Club: Devon Witherspoon\u2019s Top-3 CB Case Has the Tape But Not Yet the Box Score"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Football <\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Devon Witherspoon\u2019s 2025 r\u00e9sum\u00e9 reads like a top-three cornerback\u2019s. He still might not be one.<\/p>\n<p>That contradiction framed the latest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@FDC365\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">Football Debate Club<\/a>, where PFSN\u2019s Ian Cummings and NFL analyst Josh Hite split on whether Witherspoon belongs in the NFL\u2019s top tier at his position. Hite said yes. Cummings said no. Host Cam Mellor scored the round a 2-2 wash.<\/p>\n<h2>Football The Case for Devon Witherspoon as a Top-3 NFL Cornerback<\/h2>\n<p>Hite\u2019s argument centered on usage. Witherspoon\u2019s snap distribution suppresses his counting stats while his efficiency holds up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe may not be targeted as much as other corners because he does move from outside to nickel quite a bit, depending upon the scheme that Mike Macdonald wants him to use,\u201d Hite said.<\/p>\n<p data-video_id=\"41mmaqh4Nbw\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"NFL 2026 CB Rankings: Devon Witherspoon, Sauce Gardner &#038; Others\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/41mmaqh4Nbw?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut he has the most pass breakups over the last three seasons with 16. He has, in 2025, 48 tackles, a fumble return, half a sack, allows 65.8 percent completion percentage and 6.4 yards per target, which actually puts him in the realm of Cooper DeJean and Christian Gonzalez.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Several of those numbers verify cleanly. Witherspoon finished the 2025 regular season with 72 total tackles (48 solo), 0.5 sacks, seven pass breakups, one interception and one fumble recovery across 12 games. He earned second-team AP All-Pro honors and his third consecutive Pro Bowl selection, becoming the fifth Seahawks player to start his career with three straight Pro Bowls.<\/p>\n<p>The pass-breakup figure Hite cited tracks closer to Witherspoon\u2019s 2023 rookie season, when he ranked fifth in the NFL with 16 passes defensed. Across three seasons he\u2019s posted 32 career pass breakups in 43 games.<\/p>\n<p>The film and the All-Pro voters back the elite designation. The volume just doesn\u2019t always show up on Sunday box scores.<\/p>\n<h2>Football What Keeps Witherspoon Outside the Top Three<\/h2>\n<p>Cummings\u2019 counter wasn\u2019t about the tape. It was about who else is on the list.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou just look at the names that he\u2019s competing with,\u201d Cummings said. \u201cPatrick [Surtain II], Derek Stingley Jr., Christian Gonzalez, [Sauce] Gardner when he\u2019s healthy, and then other rising stars like Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Joey Porter Jr., DJ Turner. I think it\u2019s an uphill battle. I think he would maybe challenge for top 10. He\u2019s so versatile and dynamic that he\u2019s valuable either way, but I think he still has work to do before he\u2019s a top-three CB.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n                                                    <span>Take a Quick Break. Run a Mock Draft!<\/span><br \/>\n                                                                            <br \/>\n                                                                            <span>Before you keep reading, jump into the shoes of the GM of your favorite team.<\/span>\n                                            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Cummings flagged a specific concern in Witherspoon\u2019s coverage profile.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/nfl-cb-rankings-impact\/\">PFSN CB Impact score<\/a> of 76.2 was just 48th in the league among qualifying CBs,\u201d Cummings said. \u201cHe allowed a 90.7 coverage rating as well. The aggression, I think, is a double-edged sword at times on his film where he can give up big plays.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the bear case in shorthand. Witherspoon\u2019s snap distribution between boundary and nickel makes him versatile and harder to scheme against, but the same usage means quarterbacks tend to look elsewhere first. The corners listed ahead in Cummings\u2019 tier get the marquee-receiver matchups week to week, and the highlight plays that drive top-three conversations.<\/p>\n<p>Witherspoon\u2019s 2026 case will track whatever happens in those weeks. Macdonald has used him as an outside corner, slot defender and box blitzer across three seasons. If the next step is consistent ball production against the league\u2019s top receivers, the top-three argument closes itself. The film says he\u2019s in the room. The names ahead are the ones standing in the door.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/football-debate-club-devon-witherspoons-top-3-cb-case-has-the-tape-but-not-yet-the-box-score\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a> Ryan Gosling<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Devon Witherspoon\u2019s 2025 r\u00e9sum\u00e9 reads like a top-three cornerback\u2019s. He still might not be one. That contradiction framed the latest Football Debate Club, where PFSN\u2019s Ian Cummings and NFL analyst Josh Hite split on whether Witherspoon belongs in the NFL\u2019s top tier at his position. Hite said yes. Cummings said no. Host Cam Mellor scored<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":909618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3283,3790],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-909617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-debate","category-football"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=909617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=909617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=909617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=909617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}