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Contract Watch
The Witherspoon Talks Aren’t Going Smoothly, and Now Someone Said So Out Loud
For weeks the Witherspoon extension was the kind of story you tell yourself will just work out. JSN got his money in a hurry. Surely Spoon was next. This week ESPN’s Brady Henderson put a less comfortable word on it: the talks are not going smoothly, and Seattle’s initial offer is now roughly three months old with no deal behind it.
~3 months
How long Seattle’s initial extension offer to Witherspoon has been on the table without a deal, per ESPN.
That’s a small phrase doing a lot of work. “Not smoothly” isn’t “falling apart,” but it’s also not the warm hum of two sides circling a number. SI’s Seahawks crew laid out the why: the corner market keeps moving, the shared-agency tangle with Christian Gonzalez is real, and Seattle isn’t in a rush to set a new ceiling before it has to.
Here’s the thing I keep coming back to. The JSN deal happening fast was the anomaly, not the template. Receiver money is easier to model. Elite cornerback money in 2026 is a moving target, and the Garrett trade reminded everyone what one truly great defender is worth on the open market. Witherspoon knows that. His agency knows that.
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JSN’s deal got done at warp speed. Witherspoon’s is now reportedly stuck in the mud. Same building, same offseason, two very different conversations.
Training camp is still the operative deadline, and the smart money says this gets done before Week 1. But “not smoothly” is a real data point, and it’s the first crack of daylight between the public optimism and the private grind.
SOURCES →
Analysis
Somebody in Seattle Said the Number $55 Million About Sam Darnold
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Remember, Darnold won a Super Bowl on a salary that now looks like a clearance-rack deal. The quarterback market has gone vertical around him while he sat there underpaid and overdelivering. Daniel Jeremiah already pegged him as a $50M-a-year guy. Now the local conversation is testing whether the ceiling is even higher.
I’ll say the quiet part: there’s no extension this offseason, and Seattle is fine with that. Letting another year of the market inflate before you sit down with a guy is a risk, but Darnold isn’t going anywhere, and the front office has bigger fires this summer. The $55M chatter isn’t a negotiation. It’s a vibe check on what this town now believes about its quarterback.
SOURCES →
AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Macdonald stayed optimistic about Tory Horton, saying the team should see the second-year receiver early in camp if not at the very start. A shin injury ended his rookie year in Week 9. The 95-yard punt return suggests he’s worth the wait. Field Gulls
Field Gulls is already drawing up what makes or breaks Anthony Bradford in 2026 with rookie Beau Stephens breathing down his neck at right guard. Incumbent for the defending champs and still has to win the job back. Welcome to camp. Field Gulls
SI flagged three Seahawks entering camp with plummeting stock. Nothing motivates a roster like a list with your name on it. The 53-man math is unforgiving on a team this deep, and Hard Knocks cameras will catch every cut. SI
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
The Rams announced they’ll hold training camp at Loyola Marymount from July 27 to August 6, with the credit-union presenting sponsor right there in the press release. The Super Bowl favorites are practicing on a college campus in late July. Christmas Day at our place is still on the calendar, fellas. Pack accordingly.
NINERS
San Francisco’s marquee June development, courtesy of Niners Nation, is reportedly the comedic potential of Maxx Crosby trade puns. The pun budget is fully funded. The actual trade remains a fan fiction draft. He is still, as of this sentence, a Raider.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
This Tacoma-born cornerback out of Washington State was drafted 11th overall by Seattle in 2003, spent his entire NFL career with the Seahawks, and later helped mentor the young secondary that became the Legion of Boom. Who is he?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Marcus Trufant. He recorded 21 interceptions across ten Seattle seasons and made his lone Pro Bowl in 2007, the year he picked off seven passes including three in a single game.
Got a Question for the Mailbag?
Fire it over. Contract math, camp battles, conspiracy theories about why Schneider really traded for a special teams gunner nobody’s heard of. The best ones run in a future issue, and yes, I read all of them, even the unhinged ones.
Thirty days until the building fills back up and the negotiating leverage flips. Watch the calendar. — The Rooster