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The Seattle Seahawks are still one of the youngest teams in the NFL despite making a run all the way to the Super Bowl last season. Still, they were led by a number of stars on rookie contracts who will be a part of the team’s core for the foreseeable future.
On offense, Jaxon Smith-Njigba led the way with an incredible 2025 season that earned him Offensive Player of the Year honors. He was rewarded for that with a massive four-year contract extension worth more than $168 million, making him the highest-paid wide receiver in NFL history at the time of signing.
On defense, Devon Witherspoon has emerged as the biggest future star in Seattle, but he is still waiting for his new deal. After Smith-Njigba signed his deal, it seemed like Witherspoon wouldn’t be far behind, but that hasn’t played out so far.
As it turns out, Witherspoon’s negotiations aren’t going as smoothly Smith-Njigba’s did, per Brady Henderson of ESPN.
“Those negotiations haven’t gone as smoothly, with no deal yet despite Seattle making its initial offer three months ago,” Witherspoon wrote. “All signs have pointed to Witherspoon becoming the league’s highest-paid corner when his extension is completed. For now, he’s set to make $5.1 million in 2026, then $21.2 million on his fifth-year option in ’27.”
The former No. 5 overall pick played in just 12 games last season, but he still did enough to earn Second Team All-Pro honors as one of the best cornerbacks in football. He had one interception and seven pass breakups in those 12 games while recording 72 total tackles.
Trent McDuffie recently became the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL after being traded to the Los Angeles Rams, as he received a four-year, $124 million deal. It would be no surprise to see Witherspoon’s eventual extension go even higher than that, which would put him at the top of the mountain among cornerback contracts in NFL history.
But Witherspoon has proved during his young career that he deserves that kind of recognition. If he continues to improve, the Seahawks will have another elite cornerstone on the outside for many years to come.
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