Derick Hall contract details reveal a Seahawks-friendly $42 million extension
Seahawks took little long-term risk with immediate salary cap benefits
The Seahawks signed Derick Hall to a three-year, $42 million contract extension this week, but realistically, the team could part ways with him in two years after paying less than half of that total if the pass rusher does not continue to improve.
Or Hall could have a breakout, All-Pro season in 2026, and Seattle still wouldn’t have to pay him like a top-40 pass rusher until 2028 at the earliest.
That’s what this contract does for the Seahawks in the next year: Betting on Hall’s upside, and taking little financial risk.
According to Hall’s contract details, which were explained by OvertheCap’s Jason Fitzgerald, the Seahawks gave Hall a $13 million signing bonus and $15.27 million fully guaranteed as part of the agreement.
Hall only has cap hits of $6.247 million in 2026 and $7.47 million in 2027.
2026 salary cap hit
Hall now ranks 49th in outside linebacker salary for 2026, with a cap hit that is more than $10 million below former teammate Boye Mafe.
He’s also ranked below Chauncey Golston, a 28-year-old pass rusher on the Cowboys who had one sack last season and is making $6.9 million.
Although Hall only had two sacks last season, not including the two he had in the Super Bowl, he’s barely 25 and Mike Macdonald emphasized this week that the team isn’t only judging him by pass rushing numbers:
"He's just a great player who we feel has an even brighter future. We feel like this is just the beginning of where his career can go. We've never had a conversation on his pass rush productivity. You feel it."
On Seattle Sports, Macdonald described Hall as “our type of guy”:
At a next-season cap number of $6.2 million, making less than Arden Key, Michael Hoecht, and Baron Browning, the Seahawks see the contract as an easy opportunity to find out what Hall could do with another year in the Macdonald system.
Technically, Seattle could evaluate Hall’s contract after 2026, before his extension even kicks in, because his 2027 salary doesn’t become guaranteed until five days after the season ends. However, something unusual and concerning would have to happen for the team to part ways before 2028 because the cost benefit is still so much in their favor in 2027.
2027 salary cap hit
Hall is still only ranked 43rd in outside linebacker salary in 2027 at $7.5 million.
Although some players will be cut and/or retire before then, perhaps including Hall’s teammates DeMarcus Lawrence and Uchenna Nwosu, others will sign new contracts. Hall will not become a top-30 paid pass rusher for 2027 under any circumstances, and then after that season is when the Seahawks begin to evaluate his value against a $13.75 million cap hit in 2028.
If on the roster five days after the 2027 season ends, $1.5 million of his 2028 salary becomes guaranteed; still not very much.
But if Seattle decides to cut him before then, the Seahawks would save $7.25 million against the 2028 cap hit and leave $6.5 million of dead money.
It’s always fun to remind fans that the Seahawks have under $1 million of dead cap on the 2026 salary cap, the least amount in the NFL this year.
How many reigning Super Bowl champions can say that they didn’t have one overpaid veteran who they didn’t need to cut or trade after the season?
Even in 2028, three seasons from now, Hall’s salary only ranks 28th at the position. Again, changes will happen between now and then, but $13.75 million is a good deal less than the $46-$47 million cap hits of Nick Bosa, T.J. Watt, and Will Anderson. Those players have proven a lot more than Hall, but…
Couldn’t Hall become better than Jaelan Phillips?
There’s a pass rusher who just signed a four-year, $120 million contract with the Carolina Panthers and has a $35.5 million cap hit in 2028. Almost three times as much as Hall’s cap hit that year.
Hall also has $1 million of per game roster bonuses per year, a rather insignificant amount, and likely additional compensation that Hall will earn given his track record of usually being healthy.
Seahawks win the contract
If the number “$42 million” next to the number “2 sacks” for a pass rusher doesn’t look strange to you, it should.
Contracts like this for players who play Hall’s position do not usually get rewarded at this level without sack totals. It doesn’t matter if sacks are overrated or not, that’s just what’s typical of NFL contracts.
However, in Hall’s case the team is balancing a lot of other factors at play—perhaps none bigger than the three years they’ve already invested in Hall and the hesitancy to start over from scratch with a replacement—and the real number he’s being paid is a little less than $20 million for two more seasons.
That’s a good deal for a player still looking for his breakout season. A great deal for a team that trust its coaches to help him find it.
>>“I know we’re going to win a lot of games and a lot of championships here,” the 25-year-old Hall said. “So, I’m willing to sacrifice whatever everybody else thought I’d be willing to make to be here and with this team.”<< Derrick just said this yesterday.
This mind-set is beginning to take root among our Players? A Repeat will cement it.
Hall is exactly the type of Edge rusher MM wants. He’s likely to be better this year in terms of production numbers in the pass rush game, and his stout ability to set the edge and play the run with 4 lineman (light box) is part of the reason the Seahawks can live in nickel defense. The value of living in nickel can not be overstated in terms of what MM wants to be a premier defensive unit.