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Analysis
There Might Be a Line Forming in Front of Witherspoon
For weeks the assumption has been simple: Devon Witherspoon is next, the building wants to lock up its franchise corner before Week 1, and the only question is the number. Now two separate voices are pointing at a different jersey. ESPN’s Aaron Schatz argues the Seahawks should get an extension done with Leonard Williams first, and SI’s Seahawks site ran the same headline this morning.
The case writes itself once you look at the calendar. Williams turns 32 on June 20, and he’s entering the final year of his contract, which makes him an unrestricted free agent in 2027. Witherspoon, by contrast, is under control through 2027 on his fifth-year option. One of these players can walk into another team’s building in nine months. The other can’t go anywhere.
32
Williams turns 32 on June 20 and is in the final year of his deal, an unrestricted free agent in 2027.
And this isn’t a depth piece you slow-play. Williams was the engine of the best interior defensive line in football last season, the guy who turned the Darkside from a nickname into a problem opposing centers had to game-plan around. If Schneider lets him hit the market, someone pays him. That’s not speculation, that’s just how the position works.
None of this means Witherspoon gets stiffed. It means the order of operations might not be what everyone penciled in back in May. The cap doesn’t care about narrative. It cares about which contract expires first.
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Witherspoon was promised the money. The trouble is the guy in front of him in line turns 32 this weekend and is out of contract first.
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Commentary
Darnold Spent the Spring Quietly Becoming a Problem
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Huard’s biggest takeaway wasn’t even how good Darnold looked. It was that he thinks Darnold is going to be better, and he ticked through the timing, the precision, the anticipation, the red-zone command. Matt Hasselbeck, who also stopped by, came away just as impressed.
Take it for what it is: praise in June, with no pads and no scoreboard. But the throughline of this entire offseason has been a quarterback the whole building handed the keys to without a second thought, running the Brian Fleury install like it was his ninth year in it instead of his first. The Super Bowl bought him that runway. He’s spending it well.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
The building empties until July 25 now that the offseason program is done, which means the next real intel window is training camp itself, this time with HBO trucks in the parking lot. Enjoy five weeks of people confidently guessing the depth chart on your behalf. Spokesman-Review
The reason Witherspoon’s deal keeps idling, per the Seattle Times, is the same Christian Gonzalez shared-agency standoff we’ve been tracking, with both sides apparently waiting on the other 2023 first-rounder to move first. Two corners, one game of chicken, nobody blinking. Seattle Times
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Los Angeles spent the 13th overall pick on quarterback Ty Simpson and now insists, per SI, that there is no backup quarterback competition with Stetson Bennett, that Simpson is being brought along at his own pace, separate from everything. So they used a premium pick on a player they’re publicly promising won’t compete for the only job available to him. Sure. That’ll hold all summer.
NINERS
San Francisco added 32-year-old Mike Evans to give Brock Purdy another proven target, and George Kittle is publicly bullish about the whole thing. Small detail: Kittle, also on the wrong side of 32, still hasn’t been cleared to practice. Nothing says contender like your veteran core cheering from the rehab bike.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
This defensive end signed with Seattle as a free agent in 2007 and immediately led the NFC with a career-high 14.5 sacks while forcing five fumbles, earning NFC Defensive Player of the Year honors. Who is he?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Patrick Kerney. The former Falcon turned his first Seattle season into the best campaign of his career, and that 2007 free-agency splash remains one of the more productive edge signings in franchise history.
Got a Question for The Mailbag?
Contract math keeping you up at night? Wondering who’s actually first in line for Schneider’s checkbook? Send it in. The Rooster reads everything and answers the good ones, ideally before training camp settles it for us.
The line forms behind the guy whose deal expires first. Go Hawks. — The Rooster