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AIPROPX ReportYahoo Sports · 2h ago
Devon Witherspoon now NFL’s richest CB. And how Seahawks may use him differently
Now that he’s the richest cornerback in the league, Devon Witherspoon has work to do inside his own locker room.
Witherspoon signed his $132 million, four-year extension with the Seahawks Monday, two days after he agreed to it. The deal guarantees him $101 million, with $56 million of that coming to him in the next two years.
“It’s special, man,” the 25-year-old Super Bowl-champion and Pro Bowl cornerback said. “It’s kind of something you always dreamed of.
“But it’s kind of something that I knew, as well. We talked about it before...that I knew I was going to be here. This is where my heart is. That was never coming into question.
“So it just feels special to get it done.”
Before the ink was dry on his signature to the written contract, Julian Love and other fellow Seahawks defensive backs were challenging the Super Bowl champion and Pro Bowl selection in all three of his NFL seasons that from now on, he’s buyin’.
“I take the challenge on, man. I’m ready. I’ll be ready,” Witherspoon said, with a grin. “I’ve got the gifts ready.”
Thing is, Love and his teammates know the native of Pensacola, Florida, to be, well...frugal.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m cheap with it, now,” Witherspoon said. “Don’t get that confused. I’ll always be cheap with it.
“But I’m going to take of the guys, for sure.”
There’s nothing cheap about what and how his new deal got done.
“Long time comin’,” he said.
Asked what the recognition, and money, of being the NFL’s highest-paid cornerback means to him, Witherspoon said: “That’s really real. It ain’t fake.”
“But, for me, it means a lot to me,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s nothing to me because it’s, like, I got a team here. You feel me? And I’m trying to win, though.
“All that is love, and I appreciate that. But I am focused on what I’m building with my team right now.”
Including a stash of new gifts for them.
Devon Witherspoon stayed engaged in Seahawks
Witherspoon’s agent, Reggie Johnson of the Win Sports Group, also represents New England Patriots star cornerback Christian Gonzalez. He was in Witherspoon’s draft class, 2023. Witherspoon was Seattle’s fifth pick in that draft. The Patriots drafted Gonzalez 12 spots later in round one.
Gonzalez is also seeking a new contract going into this the final year of his rookie deal.
As negotiations for new extensions for both Witherspoon with the Seahawks and Gonzalez with the Patriots continued, Cleveland last month re-signed five-time Pro Bowl corner Denzel Ward to a deal worth $31.1 million per year. That re-set the top of the cornerback market. Agent Johnson’s talks on Witherspoon’s and Gonzalez’s new deals had new parameters, and extended the ramp to finishing.
Witherspoon said he was getting regular updates. Yet he continued to participate fully in Seahawks training camp as July became the first two weeks of August.
“I was updated throughout the whole thing,” he said. “But my mind was here.
“I was focusing on being with my team, and when I had practice getting better every day.
“My mind wasn’t on that. But I knew what it was.”
What it is, what it does, is keeps Witherspoon under contract with the Seahawks through the 2031 season. The four-year extension of annual base salaries doesn’t begin until the 2028 season. It’s tacked on to this final year of his rookie contract, plus the fifth-year option Seattle already decided this spring to exercise for 2026 on Witherspoon. That is the team’s right for each first-round pick in every draft.
“It’s a win-win,” Seahawks general manager John Schneider told the team’s radio pregame show Saturday before Seattle’s preseason game against Dallas. “It’s a great deal for ‘Spoon.’ It’s a great deal for the organization. He’ll be with us for the next six years now.
“He’s such a great guy, such a high-end competitor. Obviously, the instincts, the anticipation, but just the juice he brings and the way he treats everybody in the building, he’s just a special, special person.”
The four-year deal essentially being six is big. Having a 25-year-old champion, perennial Pro Bowl selection and team leader the coach loves for his ultra competitiveness at one of this pass-happy league’s most difficult and important positions under contract past his 31st birthday is a great deal for the Seahawks. By the time his contract is ending, the salary cap will have taken giants leaps from $301 million this year. Witherspoon’s $33 million per year will seem like a bargain.
“’Spoon’ is all the things,” coach Mike Macdonald said. “He’s a great person. He’s a great football player. He’s a great teammate. He’s a great leader. Those are the guys we want to be here.”
The Seahawks did the same this spring for Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the NFL offensive player of the year last season. In March, Witherspoon’s fellow Seattle first-round pick from 2023 got a $168.6 million extension, a record for an NFL wide receiver.
“These are foundational people to our team, and I’m extremely excited to get that foundation laid where we know ‘Spoon’ is going to be here for the long haul,” Macdonald said. “We’re also excited for the opportunity to reward him.
“You know, this is a contract that we feel like he’s earned, and we should celebrate it as well. But it’s also really exciting to know that we have foundational players that are going to be part of our team here for a long time.”
Blitzing Devon Witherspoon more?
Macdonald realizes he wants to change one thing about Witherspoon.
He’s a lockdown cover. He’s a fiendish tackler, including on dive plays up the middle among guards and tackles, belying the fact he’s 185 pounds.
But the coach realizes he should send the cornerback and nickel defensive back on blitzes more often.
In 2025, Macdonald cut Witherspoon’s blitz by more than half. He blitzed him 27 times in 17 games in 2024, Macdonald’s first as Seattle’s coach and defensive maestro. He sent Witherspoon on just 12 blitzes last regular season.
Super Bowl 60 showed what Witherspoon can be as a b...
Devon WitherspoonNFL’sSeahawksThe Super BowlPro BowlJulian LoveNowWitherspoonSeahawks MondayIt’sSuper BowlBefore
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