Why the Pittsburgh Steelers won't draft CB Devon Witherspoon

Physical Profile and Athletic Testing

However, for argument's sake, let’s say the top brass are trying to cover their tracks and appearing to play hard-to-get with Witherspoon. Maybe they’re trying to trick the rest of the league into thinking they’re not interested in Witherspoon at all. To that I would say, let’s look at the size and athletic testing. Below is a table with most of the cornerbacks the Steelers have met with in the pre-draft process.

I removed Clark Phillips from the list because he would be a nickel/slot corner only, while all the others would be expected to play primarily outside. For context, the height is listed in the four-digit format used by scouts (feet, inches, eighths of an inch). At the bottom of the table is the average of the 11 cornerbacks.

In terms of ranking Witherspoon’s numbers, he is the shortest by about half an inch, the third-lightest, has the second-shortest arms, and the fifth-fastest 40 (from his pro day). Because he has not done the rest of the drills, his RAS is incomplete. In order for him to beat the average of the rest of the group, Witherspoon would need to post numbers in the rest of the drills like this.

Essentially, Witherspoon would need to post great numbers across the board to fall in line with his contemporaries. While that is possible, given how his 10-yard split differed from his 40-yard dash time in terms of their scores, I have concerns about Witherspoon’s explosiveness. These concerns are also founded in the tape I watched of him.

Witherspoon plays Zone much more than Man; when he plays Man, it’s almost exclusively from Off-Man alignments (giving the receiver 5-8 yards of cushion). I had concerns about Witherspoon’s long speed, and those were somewhat assuaged by his 40-yard dash. But I am still very concerned about his ability to quickly change direction, be explosive out of the break, and quickly accelerate to stay with/catch up to receivers out of his transition.