Cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon is staying in the NFC West, but it won’t be with the 49ers. San Francisco’s third-round pick in the 2017 draft will be heading to the Seattle Seahawks on a one-year deal. Josina Anderson was first with the news.
Witherspoon’s return was unlikely given how his four-year tenure in San Francisco played out. He had a good rookie year, then an up-and-down second season, and was playing well in Year 3 before a foot injury sidelined him early. He wasn’t the same upon returning and another up-and-down stretch led to him being benched in Week 17 and then again in the first round of the playoffs.
Injuries struck again last year and he played in just 11 games. While he wasn’t great, he finished the year strong and gave some life to the idea San Francisco might try to re-sign him. They wound up retaining Emmanuel Moseley and Jason Verrett, which put the writing on the wall that Witherspoon wouldn’t return to try and live up to the ceiling he’d set with his spurts of strong play.
In his four seasons with the 49ers, Witherspoon posted four interceptions and 24 pass breakups in 47 games with 33 starts. Now he joins a long line of former 49ers to make their way to the Pacific Northwest to join San Francisco’s division rival.