Devon Witherspoon was clearly the perfect rookie cornerback within the NFL, however he wasn’t even within the top-3 in votes for AP Defensive Rookie of the 12 months.
On the NFL Honors ceremony, Houston Texans edge rusher Will Anderson Jr took house the award. The Texans even have the Offensive Rookie of the 12 months in quarterback C.J. Stroud, who was practically the unanimous vote if not for 2 nods for Los Angeles Rams broad receiver Puka Nacua.
Anderson recorded seven sacks and a formidable 22 quarterback hits in 15 video games performed. He led all rookies in QB hits and was solely behind YaYa Diaby for tackles for loss. The Philadelphia Eagles defensive sort out Jalen Carter was the runner-up, adopted by the Rams’ Kobie Turner, who led the 2023 rookie class with 9 sacks.
That leaves Devon Witherspoon in a shock fourth-place end, with a handful of first-place votes and a variety of third-place votes, however not sufficient cumulative factors to maneuver increased within the remaining tally.
AP Defensive Rookie of the 12 months
Will Anderson 16-21-8 = 151
Jalen Carter 14-14-10 = 122
Kobie Turner 14-6-7 = 95
Devon Witherspoon 4-7-16 = 57
Joey Porter Jr. 1-0-1 = 6
YaYa Diaby 1-0-1 = 6
Brian Department 0-0-6 = 6
Jack Campbell 0-1-0 = 3
Byron Younger…— Rob Maaddi (@RobMaaddi) February 9, 2024
As a reminder: NFL AP voters moved to ranked-choice voting just like the NBA. A primary-place vote is value 5 factors, second-place is 3 factors, and third-place is a single level. There are 50 whole voters, which suggests solely about half of the ballots even had any form of vote for Witherspoon.
Witherspoon had a pick-6, three sacks, 9 tackles for loss, and 16 passes defensed (tied with the Chicago Bears’ Tyrique Stevenson for the highest spot amongst rookies). He was one of many few vibrant spots on the Seahawks protection and it’s a bit disappointing to see him not end increased than he really did.
Final season, Riq Woolen was in a considerably related spot, coming in third behind winner Sauce Gardner and runner-up Aidan Hutchinson for DROY.
Oh nicely. This will probably be a distant reminiscence when Witherspoon wins Defensive Participant of the 12 months in 2024.
