How top 2025 extensions impact Seahawks
Seahawks do not highly pay anyone except for the punter
This tweet by Spotrac, a salary cap website, caught my eye on Labor Day:
That’s a lot of labor.
How do these market-reflective contract extensions impact a Seahawks team that has made several major free agent signings recently and has so many contract decisions to come in the near future for one of the youngest rosters in the NFL?
Let’s compare the top 2025 extensions for all 14 of those positions to where the Seahawks stand today and how that could change “tomorrow”.
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This is the sixth straight Labor Day that I’ve written the newsletter, which I know because we are here 365.25 days per year.
QB
AAV leader: Dak Prescott, $60m
2025 leader: Josh Allen, $330 total, $55m AAV
Seahawks: Sam Darnold, $33.5 AAV (18th)
Allen’s extension tied Joe Burrow, Jordan Love, and Trevor Lawrence for the second-highest AAV behind Prescott, while his $147 million guaranteed is the second-largest in the NFL behind only Deshaun Watson at $230 million.
Maybe the NFL actually colluded to get Watson a fully-guaranteed $230 million so that no other team would ever do that again…ever.
Darnold’s full guarantee of $37.5 million is basically the bottom of the market for a 28-year-old free agent. The only quarterback below him who isn’t over 37 is Justin Fields at $30 million.
Seattle made their bed with Darnold for now but they didn’t tuck him in. If Darnold sinks, the Seahawks will not throw him a lifesaver.
RB
AAV leader: Saquon Barkley, $20.6m
2025 leader: James Cook, $46m total, $11.5m AAV
Seahawks: Kenneth Walker 2026 free agent
Although Cook is listed as the 2025 leader by Spotrac, technically Saquon got a substantial raise with an additional $36 million tagged onto the existing deal he signed in 2024. But Walker’s target here is the Cook range — Cook was drafted at the end of the same round in 2022 — which only happens if Seattle gets a healthy season out of their franchise running back.
That is unless Zach Charbonnet is their franchise running back, in which case the Seahawks will bid adieu to Walker in 2026 and hope to collect a 2027 compensatory pick; in Walker’s salary cap range that’s probably going to be in the 5th or 6th round. So not very much.
WR
AAV leader and 2025 leader: Ja’Marr Chase, $40.25m, $161 total
Seahawks: Jaxon Smith-Njigba extension eligible in 2026
Seattle put their foot in the ground with DK Metcalf ($33m AAV ranks 4th in the league) which made sense to me because now the Steelers are counting on a wideout who is reliant on speed to still be good when he’s 30 and 31. Tyreek Hill was 30 last season and wasn’t as good as he used to be but the Dolphins are locked in with him through at least 2025.
Looking at JSN, who won’t even be 24 until next Valentine’s Day, he’s basically entering a “contract year” despite only being in the NFL for two seasons. I know, the Seahawks hold his rights through 2027 because of the fifth-year option, but productive receivers expect to be extended WHEN THEY ARE ELIGIBLE not just when they’re free agents.
For example, the Jets extended Garrett Wilson (4/$130, $32.5m AAV) after three seasons. That’s what JSN’s going to have his eyes on but there is a potential problem afoot: The Seahawks don’t extend players with more than one year left on their deals.
Could this lead to a potential dispute in 2026? That may depend on just how productive and transcendent JSN proves to be when he’s the undisputed WR1.
TE
AAV leader and 2025 leader: George Kittle, $19.1m AAV, $76 total
Seahawks: Cheap
With Elijah Arroyo and A.J. Barner, the Seahawks are not having to consider a tight end extension for at least two more years. This extension from San Francisco essentially locks Kittle in through his age-34 season, at least.
OT
AAV leader and 2025 leader: Rashawn Slater, $28.5m AAV, $114 total
Seahawks: Charles Cross 5th year option, Abe Lucas 2026 free agent
This is the most interesting situation that Seattle has to deal with on the list…