Devon Witherspoon, the Illinois CB, sits at No. 7 on the consensus board across 28 public boards. The tier model reads him as an impact starter — 55% elite, 32% starter.
Instincts
NFL.com's Lance Zierlein: “He plays with ballhawking eyes and good balance from zone coverage and is very aggressive tackling both after the catch and in run support.”
Instincts
NFL Network's Bucky Brooks: “Witherspoon is a natural CB1 with the movement skills, instincts and awareness to hold his own in coverage.”
Physicality
NFL.com's Lance Zierlein: “Witherspoon is a fun watch but requires evaluators to carefully consider his strengths and weaknesses relative to scheme.”
Role and scheme fit
The archetype rules read him as a balanced-CB.
Sources · 4 · quotes 2
The report above is our synthesis. These links preserve the research trail; quoted language below remains the source's own.
- Lance Zierlein, NFL.com
- Bucky Brooks, NFL Network
- Lance Zierlein, nfl_com_zierlein
- Bucky Brooks, nflcom_bucky_brooks
“…Witherspoon is a fun watch but requires evaluators to carefully consider his strengths and weaknesses relative to scheme. He plays with anticipation, route feel and a consistent sense of urgency to prevent catches, as displayed by his high number of pass breakups. He plays with ballhawking eyes and good balance from zone coverage and is very aggressive tackling both after the catch and in run support. There are snaps…”
“…Witherspoon is a natural CB1 with the movement skills, instincts and awareness to hold his own in coverage. The Illinois product also displays a willingness to mix it up in run defense as a rock-solid tackler who enjoys the physical part of the game. He's a tone-setter.…”
Sourced synthesis from 4 scouting sources, not original film. How these reports are written →