The Russell Wilson trade keeps paying off for the Seahawks, and Devon Witherspoon is the clearest reason why.
Seattle has locked up the cornerback with the richest contract ever for his position in NFL history: a deal worth $132 million total, with an average annual value of $33 million and $101 million in guarantees. For a team that has spent the last several years reshaping its roster, that’s not just a payday. It’s a statement about who the Seahawks want at the center of everything they’re building.
Witherspoon, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, has been a key part of Seattle’s rise since arriving in the Pacific Northwest three years ago. Mike Macdonald got to watch that growth up close after coming in the season after Witherspoon, and he made it clear how important the corner has become.
"Well, I mean, Spoon is all the things. 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.
It's kind of similar to Jax. 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."
And that’s where the Wilson trade comes back into the picture. The first-round pick Seattle received from Denver helped set up the selection of Witherspoon, one of the players who helped spark the roster reset after the deal. What looked like a major move then has now produced a cornerstone defender, and the Seahawks can feel that payoff extending well into the future.
That legacy can run at least through 2031, when Witherspoon’s long-term extension is scheduled to expire. If he keeps trending upward and stays among the league’s top cornerbacks, the trade’s value only grows.
For Seattle, the contract simply confirms what the last three years have already shown: Witherspoon is one of the team’s most important players, and the Seahawks are betting on that being true for a long time.
Witherspoon and the Seahawks return to action against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday at 5 p.m. PT, with the game airing on FOX.
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