Ahkello Witherspoon's Return is Critical for the Rams

The Los Angeles Rams retained cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon this offseason, rewarding the veteran cornerback with a new contract after a productive season this past season. At his introductory press conference, Witherspoon acknowledged his excitement to be back.

"It feels great to be back. I'm just excited for the opportunity. I'm looking forward to continue in joining this journey with some of the teammates and coaches that I built relationships [with] last year as well as having an opportunity to represent my family in a good light and compete for championship," Witherspoon said. 

"Just a chance to be my best. That's all I'm looking forward to this year, just the time to focus on
my craft and fine-tune some of the things that I can improve on with the opportunity to be the best that I can be for my teammates. That's my focus."

Witherspoon is set to enter his ninth season in the National Football League, and has become an elder statesman in the locker room. He credits the Rams' coaching staff with allowing him and the rest of the team to be themselves.

"I think it comes from leadership first. [Head Coach Sean] McVay sets the tone with just how he carries himself in the building and just gives everybody the latitude to be themselves as well. Our coaching staff and our players are just extremely connected," Witherspoon said.

"We have fun doing what we do. When adversity hits, we smile at it and that shows up on game day as well. It's the same pattern. Everybody's having fun, everybody's prepared to have something challenging happen, and how are you going to respond [to that]? When we do, we get to celebrate victories. The collection of all those things make it very seamless for me." 

The veteran cornerback was set to match or exceed his career high in multiple categories this past season, if not for him missing various games. Still, Witherspoon noted that he still has plenty of room for improvement over the next few weeks and into training camp.

"Just to keep it easy, I would say my rhythm and natural feel. Technique is always something that you're focusing on, but in terms of seeing the game and feeling the game, I think that it takes time. That's the journey that I took during the season, unfortunately, last year. I'm just excited to be able to get out some of those knots during the offseason and hit the ground running come Week 1," Witherspoon said.

Be sure to follow us on X (Twitter) @RamsInsideronSI

Also let us know your thoughts when you like our Facebook page WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.