What are the Seahawks going to do with Devon Witherspoon?

The Seahawks face "extend, trade, or wait" with a franchise cornerstone

Once the first 10 picks of the draft were made, the chances of the Seahawks trading Devon Witherspoon this year fell to almost zero. Not that those odds were high to begin with, but fans know by now that they shouldn’t turn a blind eye towards the business side of professional sports and the countless “I would’ve never traded that guy” examples in history.

Seattle sports fans have watched as Ken Griffey Jr., Gary Payton, Russell Wilson, Randy Johnson, Shawn Kemp, and to a lesser degree DK Metcalf were traded before it seemed like it was their time to go.

If Witherspoon is the next star to be traded out of Seattle over a contract stalemate, it would at least seem that the Seahawks affirmed their commitment to him FOR NOW by retaining his rights through the draft: If Dexter Lawrence could be traded for pick 10, then certainly Seattle wanted more than that for a player who is younger and coming off of a dominant Super Bowl performance.

The Seahawks knew this day was coming

The 2026 offseason has been an inflection point in Witherspoon’s career arc since the Seahawks made him the 5th overall pick—not only did they have to pick up his fifth-year option, he also became extension eligible—this is when the player and the team have to decide if they’re in it for the long haul together.

Here’s why Seahawks fans CAN’T IGNORE the probability that something major is going to happen with Witherspoon in 2026:

Devon Witherspoon takes home $5 million cash in 2026

That is less money than Broncos cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian.

“Who is that, Seaside Joe? Is he some sort of superstar shutdown top-5 pick cornerback like Witherspoon?”

Nothing against McMillian (I love that he has “million” right there in his name). I have no idea who that is, but from what I can gather he’s a 2022 undrafted free agent who respectably nudged his way into Denver’s defense as a nickelback who plays 66% of the snaps. Because he’s a former UDFA, the Broncos only had to pay him on a restricted free agent tender going into 2026, which at $5.7 mcmillion is more than Witherspoon:

• Witherspoon has a $1.145 base salary

• $3.95 million bonus

That’s a total of $5.1 million take home pay for Witherspoon in 2026. That’s what matters to players, not their “cap hit” and not what they made last year or next year. Although the Seahawks did pick up Witherspoon’s fifth-year option and that guarantees him $21.1 million in 2027, the matter at hand is “What do I make this year?”

It’s like if I ate a big dinner last night but then you tell me that I’m not allowed to eat anything today, I’m not going to care if you say that we’re going to an all-you-can-eat buffet tomorrow. The future isn’t going to satiate my hunger right now.

Witherspoon’s $5.1 million cash due in 2026 is ranked 42nd among all cornerbacks in the NFL this year, behind such players as:

• Sauce Gardner is first at $25.5m

• Trent McDuffie just signed a deal and got $22m this year

• Old Jalen Ramsey gets $19.5m

• Free agent Cordale Flott gets $17.5m from the Titans

• Former Seahawks D.J. Reed gets $15m

• Former teammate Tariq Woolen makes $12m

• Teammate Josh Jobe gets $9.5m

Maybe you shouldn’t be looking on what’s someone else’s plate, but is that reality? Can we honestly expect a player of Witherspoon’s caliber to not be comparing himself to cornerbacks who are less valuable than he is but making a lot more money in 2026?

If something unfortunate happens to Witherspoon in 2026, then next year’s $21.1 million could be his last pay day. Is it worth it to him to play for $5 million when a new contract could guarantee him $100 million (what McDuffie just signed for with the Rams)?

That’s why fans have to expect that something will happen with Witherspoon in 2026, although that doesn’t mean that what’s best for the player is also what’s best for the Seahawks.

Cornerbacks who were traded recently:

• Sauce Gardner, traded to Colts after signing extension

• Trent McDuffie, traded to Rams before signing extension

• Tyson Campbell, traded Browns after signing extension

• Jalen Ramsey, traded to Dolphins before signing extension

• Jalen Ramsey, traded to Steelers after signing extension

We have now seen two corners of similar value and age to Witherspoon traded within the last year and both signed extensions, but in Gardner’s case the Jets paid him too soon. The “good news” for New York is that they were able to restructure his contract in such a way that they “only” had $20 million of dead cap spread over two years and they were able to recoup two first round picks.

—The first of which the Jets used to draft tight end Kenyon Sadiq last week.

—The Chiefs, hesitant of extending an undersized cornerback who had injury issues last season, traded McDuffie to the Rams for a first round pick which Kansas City used on defensive tackle Peter Woods; the Chiefs had already reacted to trading McDuffie by trading up for CB Mansoor Delane at 6.

In fact, Delane will make $27 million as a signing bonus when he signs his contract, so actually he will make more cash than any other corner in the league in 2026. That’s over 5x as much as Witherspoon.

The crossroads for Seattle and Witherspoon is that he’s significantly underpaid in 2026 (which the player realizes) but the amount he wants as fair compensation would make him significantly overpaid (which team realizes) unless he gets even better/never injured in the next three years.

The Seahawks must also weigh the opportunity lost by keeping Witherspoon instead of trading him: Can Seattle also get two first round picks for a cornerback like the Jets did for Gardner?

Seahawks options with Devon Witherspoon

#1-Do nothing

Even though option one sounds like the one that’s best for the Seahawks, it’s also the one that’s the worst for Witherspoon.

If he’s extended, he’s paid.

If he’s traded, he’s also probably paid.

If the Seahawks do nothing, he’s making $5 million and that’s only IF he shows up to work.

The good news is that Witherspoon is already showing up to work. He was at Seattle’s voluntary offseason program last week:

“Guys that just wanted to be around the guys again,” Macdonald said. “I thought that was really cool.

“We tiered our offseason program from having a later finish this season. But I was blown away by some of the guys that showed up (Monday) and that we weren’t asking to be here at this point in time,” Macdonald, the team’s culture-setter, said.

“The energy is really great. There’s still a sense of urgency and spirit to the guys, which is exciting. It’s mostly just strength and conditioning at this point, and some individual meetings. “This is one of the best times of year to see the guys again after the break.”

But getting a guy to show up in April and getting him to put on pads and go through training camp and then potentially play regular season games without a new contract are totally different scenarios.

The Seahawks have gone through this with players before like Earl Thomas and Marshawn Lynch, sometimes resulting in missed practices and games that severely harmed their regular seasons.

Unless Witherspoon is fully committed to playing next season without a new contract and betting on himself as a cornerback who might be able to ask for $35 million+ in 2027, the Seahawks can’t do option one. They have to do something.

#2-Extend Witherspoon

The Seahawks have been acting like they’re in lockstep with their two 2023 first round picks, first by picking up their fifth-year options, then by extending Jaxon Smith-Njigba to a record-setting extension. John Schneider has acted like a general manager who sees both JSN and Witherspoon as cornerstone pieces for multiple Super Bowl wins yet to come and it’s hard to argue against a team that has already won the Super Bowl.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter, although someone who often speaks on hunches when it comes to things that could happen in the future, believes that Witherspoon will be extended before or during training camp:

"They're going to want to get a deal done with Devon Witherspoon done, I would imagine they get done sometime before or during training camp, and he'll be in Seattle for a long period of time."

And there would be nothing unusual about that. The Seahawks had to spend a lot of money in March, they had to get through the draft, and now they have to set themselves up for the future when it comes to getting as many veteran players under the 2027 and 2028 and 2029 salary cap as possible.

Players like Sam Darnold, Byron Murphy, A.J. Barner, and Leonard Williams could also be receiving huge contracts from the Seahawks in 2027.

Extending a 25-year-old star makes total sense and everything about Witherspoon screams “football player” from the dedication he gives to the craft to the leading-by-example energy that is evident on the field. Macdonald pointed to him as the “sparkplug” last December:

"He's playing great football right now," Macdonald said. "Great football. He's playing three positions, and he is really the energy behind our defense on a daily basis. He's playing high-level cornerback play, and you can put the lack of production on me. We have to more ways to get him involved in the gameplan, but we've got a lot of great players too, so it's a great problem to have. But it's nothing that he's doing. He's playing really, really high-level football right now for us that's really helping us."

And yet…

As a football player, Witherspoon missed three games in 2023 and five games in 2025. Knee, hip, hamstring…Why is it that we focus so much on nagging or severe injuries for running backs and say that makes it okay to part with Kenneth Walker III but then forgive other positions for having the same problems?

Sauce has injury problems. McDuffie has injury problems. Ramsey has injury problems. Patrick Surtain missed games last year. Jaycee Horn is injury prone.

It seems like every cornerback misses time with injury every season.

Is there a price point where smart teams must say to themselves: “Yeah, Witherspoon is an elite cornerback. But now we’re paying him for his age 27-30 seasons and he’s already having knee issues at 24?”

Witherspoon turns 26 in December, which means that his fifth-year option season is when he turns 27. A four-year extension will pay him for his age-28, 29, 30, and 31 seasons. It would also mean that Seattle is potentially paying him $30-$33 million for seasons that are actually worse than what they were getting for $5 million.

It would be like if you bought a car and the payments for the first three years were $15 per month and then suddenly—long after the new car smell is gone—the payments jumped up to $31,000 per month. You’d rather overpay for the good years than the depreciated ones.

Not to say that Witherspoon is like a used car but what years are more likely to be his best years: 2023-2027 or 2028-2032? It’s like the Seahawks are paying his signing bonus+salary ($50-70m) just so that he won’t leave in 2026-2028.

Is that worth it? That’s something that the Seahawks have to decide for themselves and it feels like they’re leaning towards “Yes”.

#3-Trade Witherspoon (When?)

As stated in the beginning, the Seahawks had to trade Witherspoon before the 2026 draft and they had to get great value. There’s no way they could have accepted the same low first round pick that the Chiefs got for McDuffie; not only his Witherspoon’s stock higher, but because he comes with a fifth-year option that means his contract extension is not as urgent.

If Lawrence is worth pick 10 and Maxx Crosby was nearly traded for pick 14, then the Seahawks had to hold out for a premium draft pick in 2026.

Without that happening, Seattle continues to hammer out contract details with Witherspoon’s agent and that might lead to an extension by camp as Schefter expects. It could also not work out.

A deal that’s “going to happen” is worth as much as a deal that never happened.

As opposed to Micah Parsons last year, there’s absolutely no drama between Witherspoon and the Seahawks. Reaching a standoff to the point where Witherspoon doesn’t want to be around the team until he’s paid feels so far away from where we currently stand that I can hardly imagine it.

And yet, Kam Chancellor did it. Thomas did it. Marshawn did it. Players revered in Seattle came to the point where they looked at their contracts, their paychecks, compared themselves to their peers, and said “Nah, I’m not going to be there.”

As I keep saying, $5 million for DEVON WITHERSPOON? It sounds too good to be true.

But $32 million per season for Devon Witherspoon? That sounds too rich for my blood.

To some degree, every day that passed without an extension is another day where the Seahawks confirm that they’re open to change. Schneider couldn’t write up the contract for JSN fast enough (I’m not sure if Seattle set a franchise record there for earliest-extension ever for a player when he became eligible but it feels like it) and yet months pass for Witherspoon.

Again, I don’t see it as a problem necessarily. Witherspoon’s extension seems likelier than a trade. It’s just that they’re living in the opportunity to trade him far longer than they are existing in the one where they’ve paid him.

When would a trade occur?

A trade before the season: Too much variance for potential outcomes of future draft picks. Do the Seahawks trade him to the Jaguars or Bills and risk that team winning a Super Bowl and only getting pick 32?

A trade midseason: Too much risk for injury/does Witherspoon even play as hard as usual? Amid contract standoffs, cornerbacks like Jalen Ramsey have been distant or “injured” until they were traded. Earl Thomas wanted a new contract, didn’t get it, and then broke his leg. There’s risk involved with waiting.

A trade in 2027: Best value, least variance, but is it even possible? Seattle’s ideal situation would be to wait until next year and be 100% certain what they’re trading Witherspoon for. But is he going to play for $5 million just to be traded?

Perhaps one possibility is that the Seahawks would approach Witherspoon’s situation like Sauce Gardner’s by extending him now and leaving open the door to trading him in 2027.

It’s weird to suggest that a team would intentionally extend a player just to trade him, but we are living in a weird time aren’t we? After all, the Jets kind of got a win-win there even if by accident:

They paid Sauce to see if that would work, then it didn’t, then they got 2 first round picks for him, and now they barely owe any dead cap space.

It’s a great outcome for the Jets. It could make sense for other teams to try and follow suit with the Seahawks being in the perfect situation for a test case. Therefore I could see Seattle extending Witherspoon in a few months, playing out the 2026 season knowing that he’s happy, and restructuring his contract next year in such a way that a trade is possible.

It wouldn’t be the first time that a Seattle athlete was traded when you least expect it.

Seaside Joe 2612