2023 NFL Power Rankings: Seattle Seahawks

Young riser: CB Devon Witherspoon

The 22-year-old is an early-season candidate for Defensive Rookie of the Year. After missing much of the summer and the opener with a hamstring injury, the fifth overall pick has rapidly emerged as a playmaker while filling a dual role of left cornerback and nickelback. He has a 97-yard pick-six, two sacks and eight passes defensed over his first five games. In the Seahawks' win over Arizona on Sunday, he had an interception and a sack both nullified by penalties that didn't affect the play's outcome, along with another big hit that epitomized his physicality. -- Brady Henderson

Geno Smith isn't slumping, per se, but he's been a bit off the past two weeks. Smith didn't throw a single red-zone interception all last season, and he hadn't done so this season heading into Week 6, but he now has tossed two crippling red-zone picks in two weeks. Late in the third quarter and up 7 points on Sunday, Smith needed to be a little smarter with where he was throwing it. Soon after that pick, Smith coughed up a center exchange. He also got away with a dropped INT right before the half. It wasn't all bad, nor was it the week before, but Smith has lost some sharpness. The good news is that Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Jake Bobo got cooking, adding more layers to this offense. I really want to dislike Bobo, given that he went to my rival high school, but he's been a terrific surprise.

This team is quietly 4-2 and would be a playoff team if they started now. They have won four of five, and it could easily be five straight were it not for blown chances at Cincinnati two weeks ago.

No DK Metcalf? No problem. Seattle's remedy for being without its top receiver for the first time in his career was simple — get the ball into the hands of rookie WRs Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Jake Bobo, whose TDs were more than enough to topple Arizona.

One question: Is Devon Witherspoon going to hurt somebody?

The Seahawks rookie cornerback already is one of the most exciting players in the league. He doesn't have a gaudy stat line — he had an interception and a sack wiped out by penalty Sunday — but he's been one of the impactful defenders in the league already. And he's one of the feistiest. He knocked Arizona's Rondale Moore for a loop Sunday.

It didn't bite the Seahawks this week, but Geno Smith put up two more turnovers in the win against Arizona. That's four in the last two weeks. It's going to cost you wins against teams that aren't the Cardinals.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba finally had a bit of a breakout, with 63 yards and his first career touchdown. The first-round draft pick's talent has never been in question. He had a bigger role with DK Metcalf out on Sunday, but maybe this step forward is a sign of things to come even when Metcalf returns.

We're less than a month away from their 49ers-Cowboys-49ers-Eagles gauntlet.

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