Devon Witherspoon's trade value is worth exploring
The Seahawks won't trade Witherspoon but his value is a negotiation point for both sides
I’ve been writing about the Seahawks long enough to know that fans don’t want to talk about trading away popular players. Sometimes it’s hard enough to broach the subject of trading un-popular Seahawks players (or at least overrated ones). But sometimes popular Seahawks players do get traded and it’s usually when they are asking for a raise:
—Frank Clark in 2019
—Russell Wilson in 2022
—DK Metcalf and Geno Smith in 2025
Not only is Devon Witherspoon popular, he’s also good and he’s very likely just starting to enter the prime of his football career. I’d bet that 2025 was the best season of his life and that the next three will be even better if he can stay (more accurately: become) healthy.
The only issue at hand with his future in Seattle, and I’d barely call it an “issue” but rather a critical consideration, is that Witherspoon is now in the open window of an extension that will happen some time between now and September. He probably won’t play another game without one.
Do the Seahawks make Spoon the highest-paid cornerback in the league or gamble on the draft picks they’d receive to let someone else do it?
Seattle’s Salary Cap Reckoning of 2025-2027
The Seahawks have hit on five consecutive first round picks, including two in one year, and with success comes stress: Can Seattle afford to pay all five of those players’ second contracts? In the words of Ariana Grande:
“Whoever said money can't solve your problems. Must not have had enough money to solve 'em.”
Money won’t be the issue at hand for the Seahawks when it comes to paying their most important players, and salary cap wasn’t the reason that Seattle parted ways with Kenneth Walker III, Coby Bryant, Boye Mafe, and Riq Woolen. Those players are gone because their new veteran salaries eclipsed their actual on-field contributions.
At $3 million, Bryant and Walker are values. At $15 million, they’re voids.
Case in point, the Seahawks proved mo’ money, les’ problems by extending Jaxon Smith-Njigba to the largest receiver contract in history. The deal comes just three months after extending Charles Cross for over $100 million.
Between Cross, JSN, and Abe Lucas, Seattle dished out deals worth $318 million to three players in six months, but John Schneider has also stayed committed to veterans Uchenna Nwosu and Cooper Kupp, two players raking in a combined $24 million in salary despite decreased production and valid health/age concerns. There’s also been $51 million for Rashid Shaheed and pretty soon, whether you agree with me or not, a franchise-record setting extension for Sam Darnold in 2027 that the Seahawks must at least be prepared to pay…
Because that’s the thing: The Seahawks don’t know that they’ll extend Darnold, but they also don’t know that they won’t.
How can anyone possibly disagree with that opinion when not even Schneider knows who his boss will be in 12 months?
Seattle’s impending sale to a many-billionaire means that no future Seahawks decisions are guaranteed and the only thing guaranteed is what Seattle can do before the sale to solidify their long-term competitive viability, potentially in spite of a bad owner. Among the most important of those pre-sale decisions is assessing the value of more players who need a raise.
Nobody on that list is more important than Devon Witherspoon, the team’s other extension-eligible first round pick from the 2023 draft.
Given that Byron Murphy II could also reset his position’s market in 2027, Seahawks fans should at least be cognizant of the opportunities at hand:
Pay Devon Witherspoon a $31-$32 million salary
Trade Devon Witherspoon for 1-2 first round picks
These are probably the two paths at the crossroads to consider and with a trade value that high, Witherspoon’s agent can argue that if the Seahawks don’t like what they’re asking for then some other team will.
In fact, they could be trying to entice the Seahawks TO TRADE Witherspoon if Seattle won’t make him the highest-paid cornerback in the league because the last two cornerbacks to set the market have been traded:
Sauce Gardner to the Colts for two first round picks
Trent McDuffie to the Rams for a first, a third, a fifth, and sixth
Gardner signed a four-year, $120 million contract with the Jets prior to the trade, whereas McDuffie signed a four-year, $124 million contract with L.A. immediately after he was sent packing by the Chiefs. Therefore we have two “going rates” for cornerbacks of Witherspoon’s caliber:
1. The going rate for a contract is $31 million per season (Witherspoon would be looking to top this) and 2. The going rate for a trade is between one first round pick and two first round picks.
(The Colts also sent receiver AD Mitchell to the Jets, but I’m not sure if that helps or hurts the value of a trade.)
To say that the Seahawks should not consider a trade is to hand over all leverage and all power to Witherspoon’s agent. It would be like shopping for a car and interrupting the sales person by yelling “I demand to pay the sticker price!” as he’s trying to tell you that he can knock it down just for you.
If you’re show that you’re afraid to lose the player, it’s literally the agent’s job to rip you off.
So let’s dip a little bit deeper into both scenarios:
The Contract
I did not necessarily know that Trent McDuffie would get the new highest-paid cornerback contract but once L.A. gave up a first round pick for him it was obvious that’s where they were headed. The Rams did the same thing when they traded for Jalen Ramsey in 2019 and extended him to a then-record $20 million per year in 2020.
Witherspoon is better than McDuffie. Or at least, he’s slightly more revered, especially at the time of signing an extension. Spoon is also three months younger. There’s just no possible way that Witherspoon takes less than a four-year, $124 million contract.
I’d slot his deal slightly above McDuffie’s numbers: 4 years, $126 million, $102.5 million guaranteed, $51 million fully-guaranteed.
Not only does Seattle’s books now have Cross, JSN, and Shaheed getting raises, but also Byron Murphy next year (he’d re-set the DT market over $30 million per year at this rate) and the aforementioned Darnold negotiations. There’s also Leonard Williams to consider, another potential extension coming this summer.
If the Seahawks have any trade bargaining chip to try and soften the blow of all these $30-$50 million per season contracts, it’s only Witherspoon. And they really don’t have another player of considerable value who won’t be extended by Seattle.
(I expect the Seahawks to extend Witherspoon! But the contract price must by assessed!)
The Trade Market
Any trade for Witherspoon must come prior to the first round of the 2026 draft, by which I mean that if he’s a Seahawk after this month, he’s a Seahawk for life*.
*life=however long he’s still good, at which point he probably leaves and joins the raiders or the panthers or something
Gardner was traded to the Colts for two first round picks, neither of which the Jets could know where they’d land in the first round. It actually worked out better than New York must have imagined because Indianapolis dropped from a sure playoff team to missing the postseason altogether.
The Jets got pick 16 this year for Gardner, plus a first rounder in 2027.
The Chiefs had the benefit of at least knowing which first round pick they’d get for McDuffie, but pick 29 is barely a first round pick. And it’s considerably less valuable than pick 16. Even the third round pick that the Chiefs got is a 2027 pick, meaning it’s more like a fourth round pick.
The Jets came out ahead of the Chiefs, but Gardner was considered a better all-around cornerback and they caught Indy at a time of desperation to make the playoffs. (Also, I think Indy’s ownership is in over its head and making poor decisions.)
The Chiefs got pick 29 and three more late picks for McDuffie
If I’m trying to get the most value in trade for Witherspoon in a trade before the 2026 draft, I’m starting right at the top and working my way down. I’d much rather trade a player for one top-10 pick than two very-late firsts.
If the Moons (bad defense, needs in the secondary, tons of cap space, DESPERATE defensive-minded head coach, aggressive front office) were willing to trade pick 7 for Devon Witherspoon, could you say no?
Dan Quinn must feel like he’s on the hot seat. His defense sucks. A bad start next season will get him fired. The GM could be next. And everyone is mocking a safety like Caleb Downs to Washington at pick 7. Who’s going to get the Moons closer to the moon in Week 1: Downs or Witherspoon?
That’s not even a question. Witherspoon is a scratch ticket that’s already been scratched and he’s three pots of gold.
Which of course begs the question, if Witherspoon is so good then why are you trading him?
Great question. There’s no answer that will feel good. But if there’s any thought to keeping some money in the bank for Leo, Darnold, and Murphy, maybe a reset with a top-10 pick is too enticing for Seattle to pass it up.
And if there’s a problem for the Seahawks on what to do, it’s not necessarily just “Do we sign him or do we trade him?” It’s also a matter of what Witherspoon wants to do because until Seattle offer blows him away (and we saw how far they were willing to go with JSN), he has every right to keep reminding them that if they’re not going to make him the richest cornerback in the league, other teams won’t hesitate.
You could also frame it as: Devon Witherspoon for $31 million per year or Jerymiah Love on a rookie contract … because that’s immediately where everyone’s mind will go next.
This isn’t a conversation anyone likes to have, but the longer Seattle waits to extend, the more reason we have to speculate that they won’t.
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You say, “I’ve been writing about the Seahawks long enough to know that fans don’t want to talk about trading away popular players.” You are right on that point. But you are also right about questioning the money these second contracts are commanding. JSN $42 million, You say Darnold could be up to $56 million, Spoon at $31.5. You mention Murphy, but I would also add Barner to consider for a second contract next year. I can’t personally see signing anyone to more than 10% of the cap in a sport with 70 players under contract. I understand that’s the market value of the QB, WR and CB. I’d be exploring how Milroe is coming along this year. If Darnold wins another Super Bowl, we might get three 1st round pics for him, and use that $56 million for Spoon, Murphy and Barner.
On another note, I was listening to the Bootleg Football Podcast this morning and EJ Snyder threw out Oregon OG Pregnon as a pick at 32. Says he might be the best OG in the class and a sure gem. A sure 2nd contract pick. He would raise this O-line to stellar level and they’d have the entire O-line for at least three more years. If there’s no corner or edge at 32 and the Seahawks stick, Pregnon might be the pick. I didn’t think so, but Snyder was convincing everyone is sleeping on this pick.