Before today,all but one of the 259 players drafted in 2023 were signed to their respective teams. The one outlier was CB Devon Witherspoon from the Seattle Seahawks. He was drafted fifth overall by Seattle but had initially missed the start of training camp due to the fact he hadn’t been signed yet. 

NFL insiders Jordan Schultz reported that the rookie CB signed a four-year, $31.9 million deal. All that money is fully guaranteed to Witherspoon. The holdup was a $20.2 million signing bonus, but the final hurdle was cleared and they reached an agreement. At Illinois last season, Witherspoon was a consensus All-American.

Devon Witherspoon has finally signed his rookie deal with the Seattle Seahawks

No. 5 overall pick Devon Witherspoon and Seahawks have agreed to a 4-year, $31.86M fully-guaranteed deal, per @Schultz_Report

All rookies from the NFL Draft have been signed ️ pic.twitter.com/vZqcQYc7Bq

— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) July 28, 2023

ESPN’s Brady Henderson noted that Devon Witherspoon wanted more of the bonus money up-front than what the Seahawks initially offered.  Three of the four players drafted ahead of him received 100 percent of their signing bonuses and Witherspoon wanted the same, if not something extremely close to that. His deal also includes a fifth-year option.

With Pete Carroll as head coach and John Schneider as general manager, the Seahawks had previously not taken a CB with a first or second-round pick. That changed this season when the Seahawks used their fifth overall pick to select Devon Witherspoon. In 12 games with Illinois last season, Witherspoon had 14 pass breakups, 41 tackles, and three interceptions.

Holdout is over: The #Seahawks and first-round CB Devon Witherspoon have agreed to terms on his four year, $31.86M fully guaranteed deal that includes a $20.2M signing bonus, source said. The No. 5 pick is the last first-rounder to get done.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 28, 2023

Along with Witherspoon, the Seahawks took Ohio State WR Jaxson Smith-Njigba with the 20th overall pick. That was Seattle’s own pick in the 2023 Draft. They were able to select Witherspoon’s Top 5 because they had the Denver Bronco’s 2023 first-round pick. Part of the package deal they got when they traded QB Russell Wilson. Now that Witherspoon is signed, he joins an already talented Seahawks secondary at training camp.