Why are the Seahawks trading Ahkello Witherspoon to the Steelers?
The Seattle Seahawks are trading Ahkello Witherspoon to the Pittsburgh Steelers, per NFL Insider Ian Rapoport.
It is unknown what kind of remuneration the Seahawks will be receiving in return. The move helps the Steelers' secondary and gives it a longer shelf life after news broke that starting cornerback Joe Haden will be testing free agency in 2022.
Why the Steelers traded for Ahkello Witherspoon
Witherspoon only spent a few months with the Seattle Seahawks. He played for the San Francisco 49ers from 2016-2020, spent the summer in Seattle, and is now a Pittsburgh Steeler. Witherspoon is 26 years old and can help the Steelers for at least four years.
Witherspoon, a third-round pick, helped the 49ers reach the Super Bowl at the end of the 2019 season. It seems he would have been the perfect pickup for the Seattle Seahawks' struggling defense.
Trading a cornerback days before the start of the regular season is an odd move. That should leave the Steelers wondering what, if anything, the Seahawks discovered about Witherspoon that would make them open to moving the cornerback.
Witherspoon earned a 80.2 PFF grade last season. It was the best season of his career. But that is not to say Witherspoon is without flaws. In 2018, he posted a 44.5 PFF grade. In 2019, he earned a 61.0 grade. That should create a sense of anxiety for the Steelers.
That said the Steelers can take Witherspoon out for an extended test drive to see if they can roll with him. If he struggles in 2021, the Steelers can then go out and draft a top cornerback.
The Steelers have shown they are taking a future-now approach to building the roster. The Witherspoon acquisition comes on the effective heels of picking up Dwayne Haskins as a long shot to replace Ben Roethlisberger when he retires. If Haskins proves to be salvageable, the Steelers could find their quarterback for the next 10 years for a bargain-bin price.
The Witherspoon acquisition gives the Steelers a boost in what could be Ben Roethlisberger's final season. This could be their best chance at a Super Bowl. Roethlisberger has two number-one receivers in Chase Claypool and Juju Smith-Schuster, a solid running back and a defense that ranked third overall last season.