Seahawks EXCLUSIVE: Wagner & Witherspoon Reveal Differences Between 'Special' Seasons

This Pro Bowl marked a new milestone in Wagner's career because although it was his ninth time earning the honor, it was his first time since the franchise cut him after a decade of dominance following the 2021 season, which he said made him "more grateful" for this particular selection in his first season back with the team after a one year stint with the Los Angeles Rams. 

In his first season back in Seattle, Wagner was a man on a mission, leading the NFL with a combined 183 total tackles (most of his career), 11 of which were for loss (second most of his career). 

At age 33, the 10-time All-Pro has embraced mentoring young players such as Witherspoon as they enter the league. 

"I just try to pass down knowledge and speed up their growth," Wagner said. 

As for the Seahawks' top-five NFL draft pick out of Illinois, Witherspoon lived up to all the hype associated with a prospect of his caliber. Witherspoon started 13 games at cornerback as a rookie, had 79 tackles (eight went for a loss), 16 pass deflections, four quarterback hits, three sacks, a forced fumble, and a pick-six. 

Perhaps most essential to the newly turned 23-year-old's success was that it came organically and not because he was focused on making a Pro Bowl in year one.

"I really wasn’t worried too much about the accomplishments," Witherspoon said. "I was just trying to go out there and show that I can play on the biggest stage, so this is just the accolade that comes with it, but I knew I could play football in the NFL."

Witherspoon described his Pro Bowl experience playing alongside and getting to know people he watched growing up as an "unbelievably dope one-of-a-kind feeling," but said that the closest he came to getting starstruck his rookie season was actually around his teammate.

"I can say I played with Bobby Wagner, that right there, that’s enough," Witherspoon said before emphasizing what a fan he was of Seattle's defense growing up. "We watched the Legion of Boom; you gotta know about them. You’ve gotta know about them. I watched him on TV, so that’s enough for me."

Wagner's reaction to hearing that was comical, "Oh wow, watched as a kid, huh? Dang! How old was I? Sheesh," Wagner said while processing going from being the young player on that iconic defense to the vet in the team's current locker room; he then praised the young star's development.

"His biggest growth was leadership throughout the course of the season; that’s the big thing, Wagner said. "Once he got confident, you could tell he was a guy that other people could follow."

Witherspoon credited Wagner as one of the reasons he developed that confidence so early in his career and never experienced a rookie wall, stating that that year one in Seattle was "just fun."

"He was a big part of the reason why I was able to be the way I was out there on the football field because he knew a lot that was going on, and he helped me get adjusted to the league and how it was gonna go," Witherspoon said. "But my biggest mentor was probably Quandre Diggs, my OG in the room. He just helped me study football and helped put me in positions to be better on the field than I thought I was gonna be. Without them guys, I probably wouldn’t have been who I was this year."

Now, though, it's on to the future for the Seahawks' defense. With a newly hired 36-year-old defensively-minded head coach in Mike Macdonald (youngest current NFL head coach), Witherspoon will attempt to carve out a long, successful career as a pillar of Seattle's defense going forward like Wagner side before him while still paying respect to the boom that came before him on defense.

"I’m just tryna bring that swag back. The identity to know we’re gonna be a physical football team. We’re gonna come out there to play, and it’s gonna be hard to beat us," Witherspoon said. 

"We ain’t the 'Legion of Boom' -  they were their own thing, but we’ve gotta create our own name; we’re gonna be something new,'' the young star added. "We don’t know the name yet. It’s gonna be something tho. It’s gonna be lit!"