L.A. Rams Re-Sign former Pittsburgh Steelers Cornerback
Former Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon has re-signed with the Los Angeles Rams on a one-year contract.
Witherspoon, 29, signed with the Rams late in the 2023 offseason after leaving Pittsburgh and will now be in L.A. for a third straight season.
Last season, Witherspoon played 13 games and made five starts as a key cog in the Rams secondary. He finished with 31 tackles, nine passes defended and one interception. He had been a 17-game starter for L.A. in 2023, but yielded playing time early in the season to free agent signing Tre’Davious White before he was traded to the Baltimore Ravens.
Cornerbacks Witherspoon, Cobie Durant and Darius Williams and safeties Kam Curl, Kamren Kinchens, Quentin Lake and Jaylen McCollough will now all return as the Rams bring back their top seven members of the secondary by snap count.
Witherspoon, a native of Oak Park, California in nearby Ventura County, spent two seasons with the Steelers from 2021-22, playing in 13 games and making seven starts. He first joined the Steelers as a late-camp addition on a trade from the Seattle Seahawks in 2021.
After being forced to play extensively in Week 2, just a few days after his trade, and struggling, Witherspoon was inactive for most of the season, but eventually got back into the regular rotation and started three of the final six games.
He entered 2022 penciled in as one of the team’s starting outside cornerbacks and he started the first three games of the season, but suffered a serious hamstring injury in Week 3 against the Cleveland Browns that ended up effectively ending his season. Witherspoon attempted to come back for a Week 8 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, but struggled and did not play again that season.
Witherspoon was originally a third-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in the 2017 NFL Draft and he spent four seasons with the 49ers from 2017-20.