Analysis: Latest on Devon Witherspoon, Potential Seahawks Extension Candidates
Wrapping up their offseason program last week, the Seattle Seahawks won’t be back in action until players and coaches report for the start of training camp on July 25, but that doesn’t mean the next five weeks will be quiet ones at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center.
While players and coaches take advantage of rare time off on the NFL calendar, general manager John Schneider and a suddenly patchwork front office following the departures of Nolan Teasley and Trent Kirchner to Minnesota will be digging in deep on potential contract extensions for several star players. Most notably, Seattle has yet to ink cornerback Devon Witherspoon to a new contract after the team made an offer to the player three months ago without an agreement being reached.
A little over a month away from the start of the 2026 season, will Schneider and the Seahawks be able to cross the finish line re-signing Witherspoon? And after extending pass rusher Derick Hall during OTAs, which other players entering the final year of their current contract could also be in line for a new deal this summer?
Here’s the latest intel on three veterans who may or may not have a new contract in tow when camp begins:
Devon Witherspoon
In the aftermath of his first career All-Pro selection and a strong performance in Super Bowl LX, the Seahawks wasted little time opening up negotiations with Witherspoon and his agency CAA Sports, making their initial offer on a lucrative extension shortly after the team picked up the former No. 5 overall pick’s fifth-year option in March. But the offer wasn’t in the ballpark for the star cornerback and the two sides weren’t able to strike a deal similar to how Seattle did with fellow 2023 first round draft choice Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the early stages of the offseason, leading to talks stalling out and being tabled before the 2026 NFL Draft.
Even though the 25-year-old Witherspoon has yet to sign the dotted line and contract talks weren’t active over the past month and change as the offseason program played out at the VMAC, however, he showed up for the start of OTAs and participated through mandatory minicamp. After taking limited reps during team drills in open OTAs, he saw an uptick in activity in minicamp with the first-team defense, showing no signs of any contempt or bad blood towards the organization with no concerns about a deal eventually coming to fruition.
Per two sources familiar with the negotiations, Schneider and Seattle’s front office are expected to pitch another offer to Witherspoon’s camp in coming weeks with hopes of hammering out a massive extension. The sticking point remains whether or not Witherspoon desires to become the highest-paid player at his position, eclipsing the four-year, $124 million contract signed by Trent McDuffie after being acquired by the Rams via trade earlier in the offseason, which would require the franchise to fork over north of $31 million annually. There’s also the built in complication of Witherspoon being represented by the same agency as Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez, who also needs a new contract at the same position, which may drag out the process a bit longer than the team would prefer.
With that said, Witherspoon wants to stay a Seahawk, evident by his energetic arrival for the offseason program and obvious love for the coaching staff. Schneider, Macdonald, and everyone in the building understands how critical he is to the team’s success and want to lock him up long term. There may be some hand-wringing when it comes to annual salary, full guarantees, and other contractual details, and without a new deal in hand when camp opens, one source cautioned a hold in “may be on the menu.” But with mutual interest in striking a deal with one of the top young defensive talents in the league, this should still get done before or during the early stages of training camp to tie him to the Pacific Northwest through 2030.
Leonard Williams
If it doesn’t seem like it has been very long since Williams signed his last contract, well, it really hasn’t. The Seahawks signed “Big Cat” to top-10 defensive tackle money on a three-year deal in March 2024, six months after dealing a second and fifth round pick to the Giants to acquire him at the trade deadline. Since then, few interior defensive linemen have been more disruptive harassing quarterbacks and destroying offensive game plans, as he racked up 18 sacks, 50 quarterback hits, and 25 tackles for loss over the past two seasons, somehow earning All-Pro recognition for the first time in 2025.
It’s safe to say Williams has more than lived up to a contract worth north of $20 million per year, if not blowing expectations out of the water. Based on prior production and his stellar track record as a game wrecker, most in the personnel department would love to see him receive one more big pay day to finish his illustrious career in Seattle. Considering how dominant he continued to play a year ago and his standing as a respected veteran on the field and in the locker room, asking for $25 million per season or somewhere in that ballpark on another three-year contract would seem like more than a fair price point to open negotiations.
Of course, Williams isn’t a spring chicken anymore with his 32nd birthday coming on June 20, and teams always have to be protective guarding themselves against overspending for an aging player based off of previous numbers and accolades. This ultimately may play out most in regards to how much guaranteed money the Seahawks are willing to spend on a talented player who now has 11 NFL seasons under his belt. At the same time, nothing suggests the player is walking towards a steep regression, he has been incredibly durable throughout his career, and defensive tackles tend to age more gracefully than a lot of other positions, facts that would make it easier for Schneider to sleep at night ponying up big bucks on another hefty multi-year contract.
At this stage, there’s been nothing but cursory discussions for Williams and the Seahawks with extensions for Smith-Njigba and Hall coming first and negotiations with Witherspoon also being at the forefront, but Schneider historically has done most of his business extending players during the break between minicamp and training camp and both sides have made it known through various channels that they wish to continue their courtship moving forward. Just as Seattle did with Hall, this has a chance to be a rather quick negotiation once talks begin with Williams happy to be in the Emerald City and both Schneider and Macdonald motivated to keep the force multiplier in the trenches for years to come
Anthony Bradford
Most topics can be left up for a debate, but in the case of which Seahawk has been under the most scrutiny - fair or not - in the past three seasons, Bradford easily takes the cake. Since arriving as a fourth round pick out of LSU, he has been the recipient of plenty of vitriol from fans, at times earning such criticism with inconsistent play and struggles with penalties. At this time a year ago, with him set to compete against Christian Haynes to keep his starting job, a second contract wasn’t even in the peripheral as a possibility.
But to Bradford’s credit, he showed up motivated and hungry to get after it last spring and Haynes never stood a chance trying to unseat him as the starter with the competition over before it ever really got started. After a sluggish start, under the tutelage of line coach John Benton, he found his groove in the second half of the season, not surrendering a single sack in pass protection from Week 9 to Week 15 and only giving up a single sack in the final 10 regular season games. Along with cutting penalties down to four, the 330-pound mauler also got rolling in the run game down the stretch, including opening up big run lanes for Ken Walker III on several occasions in the playoffs.
Coming into the final year of his rookie contract, Bradford worked with renowned offensive line coach Duke Manyweather in Texas after the Super Bowl, reporting for OTAs in outstanding shape and motivated to build off his strong finish to the 2025 season. Prior to the big game in February, Benton sung praises for the young blocker leading up to the victory over New England, saying the 25-year-old found ways “to get better every game,” and he has continued to be impressed by his work ethic and improvements on the practice field in recent weeks. Everyone I have spoken with inside the building seems to love the person and the player, including one assistant raving about his “gritty nature and coachability.”
There’s a truth in the NFL that great teams cannot keep everyone, and there’s also some truth to the idea overpaying to keep middle class talent can lead to disastrous outcomes. In the past, Schneider has done a fine job of knowing which players to keep and which ones to let walk, which makes Bradford a fascinating case study. On one hand, he’s largely been a below average starter in his NFL career. On the other hand, the results last year speak for themselves and he’s still the second-youngest starter on Seattle’s offensive line. It’s far from a slam dunk that he gets an extension, but with Benton being a strong advocate in his corner and the organization happy with his progress, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the team does the once unthinkable and locks up a third offensive lineman on a second contract in less than a calendar year.
