Witherspoon, Smith-Njigba mostly watch at Seahawks rookie minicamp. Mario Edwards incoming

Devon Witherspoon can barely describe it.

“It’s an unreal feeling, just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” the Seahawks’ new cornerback and top draft choice, the NFL’s fifth-overall pick last month, said on the first day of the team’s rookie minicamp Friday.

“I’m just coming in here to compete, represent the Seahawks, and just have that Seahawk on my helmet. ...

“But it’s a feeling that you can’t describe.”

And to think: He hasn’t done much of anything yet.

It’s May, four months before his first real NFL game. The guys Witherspoon is going to play with this season, namely opposite 2022 Pro Bowl rookie cornerback Tariq Woolen, aren’t even on the field.

How wowed will he be when he actually, well, practices? When he runs actual plays in a real uniform, let alone plays a real Seahawks game?

Coaches had Witherspoon mostly watching and listening during Friday’s 90-minute practice in helmets and shorts. It was was the team’s first chance to see their 10 rookie draft choices headlined by Witherspoon, plus 25 undrafted free agents Seattle just signed and 32 tryout players trying to earn contracts.

Witherspoon talked to defensive backs coaches. He pantomimed hand moves for parrying blocker he and other rookies were learning during a special-teams session.

He didn’t join in team scrimmaging. Neither did wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seattle’s other first-round pick.

There are organized team activities in the coming weeks, a veteran minicamp next month and training camp that starts in late July to actually practice, with the real Seahawks team.

Smith-Njigba spent most of scrimmaging time Friday with his helmet propped atop his head. He poked his head into the offensive huddle to hear the play then shadowed other receivers to the position he would have been in had he been practicing.

In his first game for Ohio State last September after a setting Rose Bowl records with 15 receptions for three touchdowns and 347 yards to end his previous season, Smith-Njigba injured his hamstring. He played in only 2 1/2 games for the Buckeyes last season.

“I feel great,” he said Friday, for probably the 200,001st time through the NFL scouting combine and draft. “I feel 100%, ready to go. ...

“Yeah, just taking it slow, taking it one step at a time, and getting ready for the next step. They are just trying to control and make sure everything goes smoothly,” Smith-Njigba said. “They are doing a great job of doing that.”

Mostly for Witherspoon, he said he was merely just trying “to take it all in.”

“This is where it’s at. No cap,” the Pensacola, Florida, native who played collegiately at Illinois said of Seattle, and of practicing along glistening Lake Washington on a sunny, 78-degree Northwest day.

He must think the weather is always like this in Western Washington. When he was in town for the first time with his family two weeks ago, it was similarly sparkling clear.

“You can’t beat this place for sure,” Witherspoon said Friday. “The view is awesome. The people here, and the city, there’s a lot that plays into it, but I love it here.”

The Seahawks know what they have in Witherspoon and Smith-Njigba: Starters from the beginning of this coming season.

You don’t take anyone with the fifth pick in the draft to sit him on the bench. And coach Pete Carroll has already said Smith-Njigba is ready to step right in as the productive third wide receiver Seattle has been seeking for years behind Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf in a league where three wide-receivers sets are now as common as yard lines.

“Both guys had hamstring issues in the offseason, and so we just want to make sure we know where they are,” Carroll said. “And so, we don’t want to go too far too fast. There’s no reason at this point because they can still get all the learning done.

“They’ve been on Zoom calls since the draft with our coaches, so they do understand what’s going on. Now they’re putting it together. But we’re assessing more than anything to make sure we know where we are.”

This brief rookie minicamp that ends after another practice Saturday is more about finding what the Seahawks have in prospects such as undrafted free-agent signee Holton Ahlers. The four-year starter for East Carolina University was getting rudimentary play calls from offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and slinging left-handed passes Friday as the primary passer among four quarterbacks on the field.

The other three in this weekend’s minicamp are tryout guys. The Seahawks are trying to find a third quarterback behind re-signed $75 million veteran Geno Smith, coming off the first Pro Bowl season of his 10-year career and returning backup Drew Lock. Lock re-signed this offseason for one year.

The Swedish ‘Moose’

The most unique man among 70 players in this rookie minicamp may be Isaac Moore.

And not because the 6-foot-6, 299-pound offensive tackle’s nickname is “Moose.”

Moore was born and raised in Orebro, Sweden. As American Football International detailed in January, Moore began playing football at age 15. A friend told him a local under-15 football team needed “bigger players.”

Two years later he joined one of the top American football teams in Sweden, the Örebro Black Knights. He played in the country’s championship game.

He learned he was as big as guys playing top-level college football in the United States. To pursue the game beyond his teenage years, Moore sent videos of his football workouts to American college football programs.

Towson University outside Baltimore offered him a scholarship. So did Temple University in Philadelphia.

“I met with the (Temple) coaches in person and got offered on the spot,” Moore told europeselite.com.

He played 57 consecutive games for Temple, and said a dozen NFL teams talked to him about possibly trying out. He took Seattle up on its offer to try out during this minicamp.

Friday, Seahawks offensive line coach Andy Dickerson had Moore going through footwork and handwork drills on blocking sleds early in his first NFL practice.

Heady stuff for a kid from Sweden, trying to impress the team that’s been among the league’s leaders in finding and then playing undrafted, overlooked rookies throughout Carroll’s and general manager John Schneider’s 13 years running the Seahawks.

That’s what this rookie minicamp is for.

“What we’re trying to do here is really see everything right now,.” Carroll said. “We’ve told them that we have got to learn them and figure them out. And they know that everything counts. We made a big deal about that.

“So, that’s how they present themselves and how they act and how they speak and the questions and the attention to the details and all of that and how much they care. We’re looking at everything and it’s not just what’s on the field. That’s why we’re kind of ‘living with them’ for a weekend here and just trying to get as much information (as possible).”

Mario Edwards signing

Carroll confirmed the Seahawks will be signing 29-year-old veteran defensive end Mario Edwards for their needy defensive line.

Edwards was a second-round pick by the Raiders in 2015. He has played for the Giants, Saints, Bears and Titans since.

“Yeah, he’s not signed yet, but he’ll be in here Monday,” Carroll said. “I’m really pumped about this...

“I thought I saw something in Mario a couple months ago when we started free agency where he could help us.”