The biggest offseason signing the Seattle Seahawks made at the cornerback position was former 49ers starter Ahkello Witherspoon. Not only did Witherspoon not get a starting job in Seattle after a pretty uninspiring preseason, he’s already off the team.
Ian Rapoport reported on Friday that Witherspoon is heading to the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was later confirmed by the Steelers that they’ll be sending Seattle a 2023 fifth-rounder.
Sources: The #Seahawks are trading CB Ahkello Witherspoon to the #Steelers. A little secondary help before the opener.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 3, 2021
We have acquired CB Ahkello Witherspoon from the Seattle Seahawks for our 2023 fifth-round pick, pending a physical.
To make room on the 53-man roster, we released DL Henry Mondeaux.@BordasLaw | : https://t.co/II1kc5Rvwk pic.twitter.com/YHUmf3tLyt
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) September 3, 2021
Witherspoon’s one-year, $4 million contract had a $2.5 million signing bonus so they will only save $1.5 million in cap space and have $1.25 million dead money charged against this season and in 2022’s void year.
You suspected something would happen given Seattle’s previous trade for Sidney Jones, coupled with the fact that Pete Carroll just about said the starting pair for Week 1 will be D.J. Reed on the left side and Tre Flowers on the opposite side. Witherspoon also curiously played well into the 2nd half of the preseason finale against the Los Angeles Chargers.
This is almost like the cornerback version of the B.J. Finney signing from last season. Finney was meant to compete for a starting job with Ethan Pocic and he neither won the job nor ever saw an offensive snap. By midseason he was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals for Carlos Dunlap, which I’d say worked out pretty well.
Unless Seattle gets a player back, they’ll have a vacant roster spot and you know the Seahawks are not done just yet.
By the way, the Seahawks face the Steelers on Sunday Night Football in October.
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