Seahawks extend Derick Hall
Hall's contract numbers show that sometimes it's better to act now than wait
The Seattle Seahawks extended Derick Hall on Tuesday morning, a three-year, $42 million contract with $21 million guaranteed. Numbers like that for a pass rusher indicate that Hall could not risk betting on himself to see if he could become a more valuable player as a free agent in 2027, and neither could the Seahawks.
At $14 million per season, Hall only ranks 34th in average annual salary at his position, slotted between what remains of Bradley Chubb (three-year, $43.5m deal with Bills this year) and rookie David Bailey.
A new deal between the Seahawks and Hall was not expected this soon simply because terms that are this team-friendly are unusual. But then again, John Schneider getting players to agree such awesome values is not.
Consider Ernest Jones.
Seattle signed Jones to a three-year, $28.5 million contract before free agency last year, ranking outside the top-20 linebacker deals in the league. Jones followed with a career-year, was named second-team All-Pro, and is one of the best bargains in the NFL at any position.
The Seahawks are expecting a similar return on investment from Hall, a player who failed to perform as he and the team wanted to see from him last season, but is still only 25.
Hall’s contract is not a reward, it’s a belief
Forget sacks and pressures, which were obviously disappointing. Hall’s playing time decreased from 2024 (60% of snaps to 46%) and his missed tackles went up (two to seven). Everything went worse for Hall in 2025, which was supposed to be a breakout year, until he got to the Super Bowl and had two sacks.
Did you read Monday’s bonus article? 5 reasons the Seahawks have a better roster than the Rams, even after the Myles Garrett trade
But this extension is still not about the Super Bowl or sacks. The contract says more about Seattle’s opinion of what’s out there—not much—than it says about a belief that Hall is going to start wrecking shop.
On one hand, it is logical that the Seahawks expect Hall to become a much better player in 2026 than he was in 2025, and that they are betting on him to be the successor to DeMarcus Lawrence and Uchenna Nwosu. In the wake of Boye Mafe’s absence, Hall has a chance to set a new career-high in snaps next season.
On the other hand though, it is also apparent that smart teams like Seattle know that the fourth or fifth year of an investment like Hall is likely to yield much better results than the first or second year of a draft pick in 2026 and 2027. Because Hall—who is the same age as first round rookie Akheem Mesidor—could be the new normal.
Drafting players and expecting them to take four years to develop. Twice as long as it used to take in an era of NIL and less development in college as players bounce from program to program seeking new fortunes and opportunities. Hall’s third year with Mike Macdonald is a much safer bet than if the Seahawks had drafted an outside linebacker and hoped to hit the jackpot.
With a salary comparable to the number two pick in this year’s draft, Hall’s new contract is worth the risk.
This article felt a little short, so here’s a breakdown of the Super Bowl by Richard Sherman that I’ve been watching recently:
There are more Super Joes Q&A questions from last week that I have yet to get to because the NFL news cycle has been so active recently. I’m still going to get to them!
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It’s possible that Hall values stability, friends, and family more than getting rich. That guaranteed money makes him independently wealthy. He remains in the same town with the same team. He’ll be celebrating tonight!
Matt Groening told a story of a new project that had great potential, but every entity in the room wanted the biggest cut. They couldn’t get the numbers to add up, it got heated, and the project got scrapped. His quote was, “If everybody in the room took the second greediest position, all of us would have made a ton of money.”
Hall took the second greediest position.
I love this deal! I thought he was worth at least what Mafe got (3 for $60 million) This is a steal. No offense to those who wanted to wait and see how he plays this coming season, but that would have led to a contract twice what he got today! And I had said waiting would cost the Seahawks $10 million APY. But it turns out waiting would have cost significantly more than $10 million APY. I think Hall gets 10+ sacks this year. I’m not sure Spoon will give the Seahawks a break. But even if Spoon costs $30 million this deal for Hall does not preclude that!