The Seattle Seahawks secondary is set to get a boost for their Thursday Night Football showdown against the Arizona Cardinals. Cornerback Devon Witherspoon and safety Julian Love have both been taken off the injury report and will be active Thursday night.
Witherspoon suffered a knee injury in week one when the Seahawks fell to the 49ers. He missed the last two weeks. As reported by Brady Henderson of ESPN, Love played through a groin injury in week two against Pittsburgh, but injured his hamstring during that game which kept him out for week three.
Both were full participants during Wednesday’s practice and by all reports seem ready to take on a full workload in week four.
Seahawks Secondary Gets a Boost With Addition of Witherspoon and Love
Witherspoon and Love are both Pro-Bowl caliber players: Witherspoon has made the Pro Bowl in each of his first two seasons in the NFL while Love has been named to the Pro Bowl once in his six NFL seasons.
Seattle’s secondary has fared well without them, as it was able to limit the New Orleans Saints to just 13 points in week three. Seattle has allowed just 47 points through week three, second fewest in the league behind only the Green Bay Packers who have allowed 44.
The Seahawks have allowed just a 77.5 passer rating against opponents, while they’ve only allowed four passing touchdowns against with five interceptions. Those numbers can improve even more with the re-insertion of two valuable secondary defenders in Witherspoon and Love.
Witherspoon came in fourth in NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year voting in 2023. He had a stellar season registering a 97-yard pick six, 16 passes defended, one forced fumble, three sacks and 79 tackles. Though his numbers decreased slightly in 2024, he was still named to his second Pro Bowl in as many seasons.
Love spent his first four NFL seasons with the New York Giants, before signing with the Seahawks ahead of the 2023 season. In what seems to have become a trend, he had the best season of his career after leaving the Giants, getting named to his first Pro Bowl in his first season with Seattle while setting career highs in interceptions, tackles and passes defended.
Seattle Legitimate Contenders For NFC West Title
The NFC West has shown itself to be one of the strongest divisions in the NFL, as the four teams are a combined 9-3 so far, with two of those three losses coming in inter-division play.
The Seahawks will have their second chance to pick up a division win on Thursday night after they lost in week one to the now 3-0 49ers.
On paper, it’s a favorable matchup for Seattle, as Arizona’s two wins have come against NFL bottom-feeders New Orleans and Carolina. The Seahawks bolstered secondary really only has two targets to watch out for in Marvin Harrison Jr. and Trey McBride who have been Kyler Murray’s only consistent targets through three weeks.
The Cardinals also lost their star running back James Conner for the season after he suffered a gruesome leg injury in week three. They’ll turn to backup Trey Benson for RB1 duties moving forward.
Thursday Night Football kicks off at 8:15 p.m. and can be streamed on Amazon Prime.
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