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The Patriots Bought the Cornerback Record Back Two Days Before Kickoff
New England and Christian Gonzalez agreed to a four-year, $135 million extension in the early hours of Tuesday morning, $102 million of it guaranteed, per ESPN. That makes Gonzalez the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history. It also makes Devon Witherspoon the second highest-paid cornerback in NFL history, a title he did not have when he went to bed.
The margin is three million dollars in total value and one million in guarantees. Witherspoon signed his four-year, $132 million deal in August and got to hold the belt for about three weeks.
$3M
The gap between the two deals: Gonzalez at four years and $135 million, Witherspoon at four years and $132 million.
What makes it funnier is the timing. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Monday morning that talks between the two sides were “nowhere,” per Boston.com. Roughly a day later there was a signed record contract. Nothing concentrates a front office quite like a Wednesday night flight to Seattle.
For Seattle the practical read is simple and slightly annoying. Gonzalez skipped voluntary work this spring and spent Saturday refusing to say whether he would play in the opener. Now he has 135 million reasons to be on the field, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp get to spend the banner night working against a fully paid, fully motivated All-Pro instead of a guy in a ball cap on the sideline.
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Witherspoon did not lose a coverage rep. He lost a line on a spreadsheet.
Nobody in the Seahawks building will admit to caring about the number. They should care a little. The cornerback market moved twice in three weeks, both times upward, and Witherspoon is now the cheap one at $33 million a year, which is a sentence I did not expect to type this decade.
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Analysis
Wednesday Night Is Brian Fleury’s First Play Call Anywhere, Ever
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Fleury coached defense for the first 16 years of a 23-year career and was a college defensive coordinator in Connecticut 18 years ago. He only crossed over in 2020, when Kyle Shanahan moved him to offensive quality control in San Francisco. Six years later he inherits an offense that just won a title and gets to install a fullback-heavy circus in front of 68,000 people who are already going to be hoarse from the banner.
His players keep volunteering the fact rather than dodging it. “Brian (Fleury) is obviously a first-time play caller,” Cooper Kupp told Seahawks.com, before pointing out that Fleury did call the preseason games and that the whole thing is a collaboration. That is a teammate being kind and honest in the same breath.
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You can install a play sheet in August. You cannot install eleven seconds of noise.
I am not worried about the concepts. Sam Darnold has been running them all camp and the motion stuff has looked real. I am worried about the third-quarter sequence where a first-time caller has to decide something in eleven seconds with a crowd screaming. That is the part you cannot rehearse in shells and shorts.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Ty Okada did not practice again Monday, which leaves Julian Love and a still-limited Nick Emmanwori holding the safety room on the 53, with four more sitting on the practice squad waiting for a phone call. Game designations land today. Somebody is getting elevated, and he is probably finding out via text. Field Gulls
Emanuel Wilson’s hamstring is finally out of the way, and Macdonald told reporters Monday that “He’s taking off. Things have opened up.” That is a lot of enthusiasm for the third guy in a three-man backfield. Jadarian Price should probably not read this one. Heavy
Anthony Bradford was the one man on the injury report whose week got better: the right guard’s knee went from limited to full participation on Monday. Given that Seattle lists exactly two spare bodies for four offensive line jobs, this counts as a genuine victory. Seahawks.com
Tory Horton remained a limited participant with a hamstring. Limited is still on the field, which is more than anyone would have promised you when Macdonald was saying he’d be out for a period of time and declining to say what period he meant. Yahoo Sports
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Los Angeles flew the scariest defensive line money can assemble to Melbourne and is now hoping most of it can play. Myles Garrett has missed several weeks of practice with knee soreness, and Aaron Donald’s Week 1 participation is still up in the air a week after he walked out of retirement. Two of the three most expensive decisions of their offseason are currently listed as maybes on another continent.
NINERS
San Francisco’s final preparation for opening the season 8,000 miles from home was to sign a 28-year-old defensive end off the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad and put him on a plane to Australia mid-week. Khalid Kareem’s new defensive coordinator used to be his head coach in Atlanta, so at least someone in Melbourne knows his name. The rest of the roster got nine days to adjust. He got a boarding pass and a playbook.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
This undrafted quarterback was released by the Cowboys in 1975, signed with Seattle the next year, won the expansion franchise’s starting job, and then led the entire NFL in pass attempts as a rookie. Who is he?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Jim Zorn. He threw 439 times for 2,571 yards in 1976, was named the NFC’s Offensive Rookie of the Year, and went into the Ring of Honor in 1991.
THIS DAY IN SEAHAWKS HISTORY
2024
September 8, 2024
Macdonald Wins His First One
Two years ago today, Mike Macdonald coached his first NFL game and beat Denver 26-20 at Lumen Field in front of 68,714 people. He was the youngest head coach in the league, replacing a man who had run the place for 14 seasons, and the opener was ugly for long stretches before Seattle pulled it out. Tomorrow night he opens with a championship banner going up over the same building.
Ask Me Something Before Kickoff
The last mailbag window of the offseason closes tomorrow at 5:20 p.m. After that every question becomes a question about a real game with a real scoreboard. Send yours now while everything is still theoretical and nobody has been blamed for anything.
Last quiet morning until February. — The Rooster