Seahawks Extend Devon Witherspoon!
Seattle signs Spoon to highest deal for a cornerback, Is it a good deal?
The Seattle Seahawks and Devon Witherspoon agreed to a four-year, $132 million extension with $101 million guaranteed on Saturday. The contract keeps Witherspoon under team control through 2031.
The deal says two things, one for each side:
On Witherspoon, it says that he’s a great player, especially for Seattle’s defense in particular
On the Seahawks side, it’s kind of saying, “Hey this is the NFL and ridiculous, absurd money is flying around everyday”
I probably projected Witherspoon’s contract extension at least a half-dozen times in the offseason, but on April 3, I thought it could be a four-year, $126 million with $102.5 million guaranteed. Not bad.
Although an average salary of $33 million per season for a cornerback is a lot, the Seahawks will always have a way to afford his deal and all the others that they really want to give out in the next few years. There really is no world where Witherspoon’s contract prevents Seattle from signing Byron Murphy or Leonard Williams or Nick Emmanwori or Sam Darnold.
I’ve also written a lot about the Seahawks’ salary cap philosophy and their hidden advantages and how much money they already saved in free agency this year by replacing free agents with rookies and cheap vets who might do the job better.
We’re looking at Witherspoon’s contract as $33 million AAV and taking up maybe 9-10% of the cap in 2-3 years. Would it have really been more acceptable if it was $28 million AAV and taking up 7.5-8.5% of the cap instead?
Just based on what I could afford if I were responsible for paying the players, then yes, this would be slightly too much.
But for the Seahawks, an NFL team that was just sold for over $9 billion, Devon Witherspoon is a reasonable investment in the defense. One who probably does have a much higher ceiling than what we’ve seen before since he still only has two career interceptions.
Maybe Witherspoon is an overpay. I guess this time, he’ll be Seattle’s overpay, but it’s really not by much.
I wonder if the new owners chimed in on the deal? I’m glad Spoon is coming back to the Hawks. I do hope he stays healthy.
I’m all for this deal it would have more expensive later on by far.