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Extension
Leonard Williams Got Paid Before the Plane Left
Leonard Williams signed a three-year extension Thursday afternoon worth $90 million, $56 million of it guaranteed, and the last genuinely open question on this defense closed before the team bus reached the airport. He is tied to Seattle through 2029.
The new rate is $30 million a year, which puts him level with Tampa Bay’s Vita Vea as the fifth-highest-paid interior defensive lineman in football. He had been playing on $21.5 million a year, 14th at the position, which is the kind of gap that usually ends with a player finding a new area code. He was second-team All-Pro last season. He has 22 sacks in two and a half years here.
$30M
Williams’ new average annual value, tied with Vita Vea for fifth among NFL defensive tackles.
We spent the entire summer arguing about the order of operations. JSN or Witherspoon or the Big Cat, who eats first, who gets told to wait a year. Schneider fed all three of them inside two months. He also did this one the day after 32 owners voted to hand the franchise to a family that doesn’t technically own it yet. New landlords, same checkbook.
“It means so much to me,” Williams said moments after signing, five-month-old son Zion in his arms. “When I first signed here with John and Coach Mike’s first year, we had a vision for the team, and I feel like we still have a lot more to accomplish.” Macdonald, before leaving for Kansas City: “We couldn’t be more excited to get the deal done. He’s a foundational player to our club from when we got here.”
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New landlords, same checkbook.
The best interior defensive line in the NFL just got signed instead of dismantled. Twelve days from the banner game, that will do.
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Preseason
Four Quarters of Jalen Milroe, and Nobody Else
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Milroe’s preseason so far: 11-of-19 for 88 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions, plus 52 yards on six carries and five sacks absorbed. That’s a QB3 line that reads like a dare. He now gets sixty minutes to make it read like something else.
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That’s a QB3 line that reads like a dare.
You can’t blame Macdonald for locking the good furniture in the basement. Seattle came home from Tennessee down a second-round safety and a starting-caliber guard, and the reward for one more series of Darnold in August is nothing at all. Kansas City is doing the same math with Patrick Mahomes.
So it’s third-stringers versus third-stringers with the roster knife coming out Sunday at 3 p.m. For about forty guys in that stadium tonight, this is the actual job interview.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Seattle claimed tackle Kellen Diesch off waivers Thursday, one day after Kansas City cut him, then boarded a plane to Kansas City. Linebacker Chris Paul Jr. was waived with an injury designation to make room. Showing up at Arrowhead with their guy in the travel party is a choice. Seahawks.com
Nick Emmanwori still has not practiced since coming off the PUP list this week. Derick Hall and Julian Neal also sat out Thursday. Passing a physical and playing football remain two very different activities, and the banner goes up in twelve days. ESPN
JSN, Kupp, Shaheed and Horton are safe in the receiver room. Roughly one chair is not. Montorie Foster Jr. and the rest of the bubble get one night in Missouri to argue their case, which is a rough way to find out how your September goes. SI
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Los Angeles beat the Chargers 20-18 at SoFi on Thursday night with rookie Ty Simpson starting, and he was genuinely good: calm, efficient, eleven completions in a row at one point. Encouraging stuff. Also the most reassuring quarterback development the Rams have had all month, and it involves the guy third in line behind a 38-year-old. Build the whole season on that arm and see how it feels in December.
NINERS
San Francisco closed the preseason with an 18-12 win in Las Vegas, and now comes the fun part: a mandatory three-day break, back to Santa Clara on Monday with the new 53, then a flight to Melbourne later in the week. They are traveling to the other side of the planet to play a road game against the Rams. Enjoy the body clock, gentlemen.
CARDINALS
Arizona plays its fourth preseason game tonight at Lambeau. Seattle plays its third. Their starting right guard didn’t even make the trip, day-to-day with a knee, per the team. So the Cardinals get one extra night of exhibition football, and they’re spending it without one of the five people whose health actually matters, roughly 48 hours before they cut 37 players.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
This 6-foot-5, 320-plus-pound defensive lineman was Seattle’s fourth-round pick out of Texas A&M in 2008, then got moved from defensive tackle to a five-technique end spot by Pete Carroll in 2010 and blocked two field goals in a single game the following season. Who is he?
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Red Bryant, the 121st pick of the 2008 draft. He was also Jacob Green’s son-in-law, which makes him the rare Seahawk who could ask a franchise sack leader for run-defense advice at Thanksgiving.
Got a Question? Ask It.
Cutdown day is Sunday and the mailbag is wide open. Tell me which bubble guy you’re irrationally attached to, ask me something about the cap, or just yell about Arrowhead. The good questions get answered. The unhinged ones get answered faster.
Milroe gets four quarters. Sunday brings the scissors. — The Rooster