Seattle just made sure its best corner never sees the open market. Devon Witherspoon and the Seahawks agreed to a 4-year, $132 million extension that includes more than $101 million guaranteed, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter — a deal that averages $33 million a season and blows past Denzel Ward's old positional record of $31.1 million per year.
This isn't a reach. Witherspoon has been a Pro Bowler on the initial ballot in each of his first 3 seasons, joining Charles Woodson and Patrick Peterson as the only defensive backs in the last 40 years to pull that off. Seattle got him with the No. 5 pick in the 2023 draft — the selection they landed from Denver in the Russell Wilson trade — and he's paid that back with interest, including a sack and a hand in a pick-six during the Seahawks' Super Bowl LX run.
Schefter posted the moment the news broke inside the building, catching what the locker room sounded like once word got around that Witherspoon had just become the highest-paid CB ever. The timing lines up with Hard Knocks: Training Camp cameras rolling on the Seahawks, so this whole scene is set to air.
Schefter shared the reaction inside the Seahawks' locker room the moment Witherspoon's record-setting deal became official.
For Seattle, this is the second big check they've written this year after extending Jaxon Smith-Njigba back in March — a sign the front office is committing to build around its young core rather than let it walk in free agency. GM John Schneider called it a great deal for both sides, noting Witherspoon will be a Seahawk for the better part of the next 6 seasons between this deal and what was left on his rookie contract.
The bigger picture: cornerback pay has been climbing fast across the league, and Witherspoon resetting the market at 25 years old means whoever's next up — think Christian Gonzalez in New England — now has a new number to point to in their own extension talks. Seattle just bet big that its secondary is the foundation worth protecting, and so far Witherspoon's given them every reason to believe it.