Fifth-year option season has officially begun.
The Seahawks have announced that they have officially exercised the 2027 options on the first-round contracts signed in 2023 by receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and cornerback Devon Witherspoon.
Smith-Njigba, the 20th overall pick in 2023 and the 2025 NFL offensive player of the year, now has a fully-guaranteed salary of $23.852 million for 2027. Witherspoon, taken fifth overall, will make $21.161 million in 2027.
Both will be seeking new contracts, sooner than later. The fifth-year option gives them protection in the event of a fluke injury in the early portions of the 2026 offseason program, since the deadline for exercising the option doesn’t arrive until May 1.
Smith-Njigba has said he believes he should be the highest-paid receiver in the NFL. That would require an extension with a new-money average in excess of $40 million. To get Smith-Njigba to a new-money APY of $41 million, the Seahawks would need to sign him to a five-year, $148.4 million contract. That would equate to a total average from signing of $29.68 million, given what he’s due to earn over the next two seasons.
Regardless of the timing for their second deals, it’s no surprise that the Seahawks plan to keep Smith-Njigba and Witherspoon. In the coming weeks, other teams will be exercising the fifth-year options on 2023 first-round draft picks who have performed well enough in their first three seasons to justify it.
There were only 31 first-round picks in 2023. The Dolphins lost theirs as punishment for tampering with Tom Brady and Sean Payton.
Seahawks Clips
Jake Bobo may be on the move.
The Seahawks’ restricted free agent is signing an offer sheet with the Jaguars, according to ESPN’s Field Yates.
The details of the offer were not disclosed.
Seattle has five days to match the offer.
Bobo, who turns 28 in August, entered the league in 2023 as an underrated free agent with Seattle. He’s appeared in 45 games with three starts in his career, catching 34 passes for 323 yards with three touchdowns. However, he had just two catches for 20 yards in 2025.
Seattle tendered Bobo at the original-round level. That means he would make $3.52 million on a one-year deal with the Seahawks. But if the Seahawks decline to match the offer from the Jaguars, Seattle will not receive any draft pick compensation.
Former Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron is the Jags’ passing game coordinator, giving Bobo familiarity with some of Jacksonville’s staff.
Safety Coby Bryant’s last game came as a member of the Seahawks and he’d be happy if his next one featured the Seahawks as his opponent.
Bryant signed with the Bears this month after helping the Seahawks win Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara in February. The Seahawks will be celebrating that win when they open the 2026 season at home in early September and Chicago is one of the teams on their home schedule this year.
During an appearance on Up & Adams, Bryant said that being in the house for that celebration would suit him fine.
“I wouldn’t mind starting the season off out there, honestly,” Bryant said. “Weather will be nice. The whole world will be watching.”
The Bears nearly made it to the NFC Championship Game in Seattle during the playoffs and a win over the defending champs in Week 1 would be a good way to kick off their bid to make it even further this time around.
Some Seahawks fans are worried about what their team is going to do at running back this season. Seahawks General Manager John Schneider is not.
With Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker gone to Kansas City and Zach Charbonnet likely not ready for the start of the season, Schneider was asked what the Seahawks are going to do at running back. He answered that running backs can be found elsewhere.
“That’s a position that you can find guys,” Schneider said on Seattle Sports.
Schneider also defended the depth already on the roster, noting that Cam Akers and George Holani can compete for more playing time, and Emmanuel Wilson was signed from the Packers in free agency.
“Cam, outstanding and everyone is really excited for him,” Schneider said. “George did a great job and we’re really excited about Emmanuel Wilson, who we got from Green Bay.”
Schneider said he understands why fans are concerned, but that Charbonnet is making progress recovering from the ACL tear he suffered in January and that Kenny McIntosh is still on the roster after contributing in 2024 but missing all of 2025 with a torn ACL in training camp.
“At this time of year I get it, but Charb is doing great, Kenny McIntosh had a great season and it was just an awful injury for him,” Schneider said. “But I get it. It’s a position, we know where we’re at right now.”
Last night, upon learning that the Rams have withdrawn two different rule proposals arising from the Seahawks’ crazy Week 16 two-point play, we asked the Rams if they had any comment on the development. They did not.
On Thursday morning, Rams president Kevin Demoff did.
“Withdrawn but not forgotten in today’s NFL you can pick up a ball after a play is whistled incomplete, turn around with it and walk back towards midfield and four minutes later have it count for two points,” Demoff tweeted.
The rule that granted the Seahawks two points after a backward pass was deflected past the line of scrimmage and recovered casually by running back Zach Charbonnet isn’t new. But it very rarely happens.
Making the situation worse (for the Rams) was the long delay in activating the replay process, thanks to the league not realizing it until Prime Video rules analyst Terry McAulay alerted NFL rules analyst Walt Anderson to the possibility that the ruling on the field of an incomplete pass was erroneous. Regardless, the league eventually got it right.
If Demoff still feels so strongly about the outcome, why withdraw the proposal? Force a vote on it. Require everyone in the room to say “yes” or “no” as to whether it makes sense to allow a backward pass to pinball forward and be recovered (and potentially advanced) under the specific circumstances the Holy Roller rule was designed to address.
Without action, Demoff’s complaint rings hollow. If you don’t like the rule, fight it. Propose a change every year. (Until, of course, the same thing happens in another game and it works to the Rams’ benefit.)
Regardless, the coaching point remains as clear now as it was then. If there’s a loose ball, pick it up. While that could potentially lead to an uptick in injuries when a mad scramble ensues for any bouncing ball after the whistle is blown, the situation flows from the change to the rules following a 2008 Chargers-Broncos game that killed the play the moment a Jay Cutler fumble was deemed on the field to be an incomplete pass but couldn’t be awarded to the Chargers, who had recovered the ball, after replay corrected the call.
The only sensible fix is to ensure that the officials don’t prematurely end a play when the ball hits the ground. Swallow the whistle and see who emerges with possession. Replay can fix it later — even if those situations result in more contact and more potential injuries.
The nutty two-point play that forged a fourth-quarter tie in the Week 16 game between the Seahawks and the Rams resulted in a pair of proposed rules changes from the Rams last month.
Those proposals now have been withdrawn.
One focused on the unusual mechanics of the play. A backward pass thrown by Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold was deflected past the line of scrimmage, making it a live ball that could be recovered by Seattle running back Zach Charbonnet for a touchdown. The Rams wanted such situations to be treated like a fumble in certain situations (fourth down, within the final two minutes of each half, during a try), which would have in that specific circumstance wiped out the two points.
The Rams also proposed a 40-second limit for the initiation of replay review, given that 100 seconds passed between the recovery of the loose ball by Charbonnet and the announcement by referee Brad Allen that the play would be reviewed. As PFT reported last month, the league became aware of the possibility that the ruling on the field of an incomplete forward pass should be reviewed after Prime Video rules analyst Terry McAulay called NFL rules analyst Walt Anderson.
The proposals likely would have had a hard time getting to 24 votes, which could be the most obvious explanation for the withdrawal. Either way — and despite the impact of the play on the game and, potentially, the outcome of the season — it’s not something that will happen very often. And the coaching point remains clear: If there’s a loose ball in the playing field, pick it up.
The Seahawks re-signed wide receiver Cody White on Wednesday, the team announced.
White, 27, has spent the past three seasons with the Seahawks.
He bounced between the active roster and the practice squad last season, playing 10 games. He finished the season on injured reserve after injuring his groin in Week 17.
White finished with three receptions for 90 yards and a touchdown and added four kickoff returns for 106 yards.
He entered the league as an undrafted free agent, spending time with the Chiefs, Giants, Broncos and Steelers. In 2021-22 — his two seasons with the Steelers — White appeared in 16 games.
“I bounced around from a bunch of different teams, not knowing if I’d be able to stick or not and finally finding a home in Seattle. It’s been amazing for me,” White told Ari Horton of the team website.
As the details regarding many of the free-agent contracts made their way to the light of day last week, one deal was absent.
We’ve now gotten our eyes on the full base numbers of the three-year contract signed by Super Bowl LX MVP Kenneth Walker III.
Here are the terms of Walker’s new deal with the Chiefs:
1. Signing bonus: $13 million.
2. 2026 base salary: $1.215 million, fully guaranteed.
3. 2026 workout bonus: $135,000, fully guaranteed but must be earned.
4. 2027 base salary: $14.1 million, fully guaranteed.
5. 2027 workout bonus: $250,000, fully guaranteed but must be earned.
6. 2028 base salary: $14.1 million.
7. 2028 workout bonus: $250,000.
The deal has a base value of $43.05 million. That translates to an average of $14.35 million.
Coincidentally, or not, the running back franchise tag for 2026 was $14.293 million. The Seahawks decided not to apply it.
The Chiefs have fully guaranteed Walker $28.7 million over the first two years, an average of $14.35 million. With no guarantees for 2028, it’s a two-year deal with a team option for 2028.
While not at the top of the tailback market (Saquon Barkley at $20.6 million), it puts Walker not far behind Derrick Henry ($15 million APY) and ahead of Jonathan Taylor ($14 million APY).
That’s a very good deal for a running back who missed 10 games over his first three seasons and who rushed for a career-high of 1,050 yards as a rookie. The investment suggests that the Chiefs plan to use him heavily; last year, they paid only $1.5 million to Kareem Hunt and $1.12 million to Isiah Pacheco.
Either way, Walker will get $14.35 million in cash for each of the next two years, with every penny guaranteed. It speaks to a level of involvement in the offense that the starting running back usually doesn’t have in Kansas City.
The Seahawks will open the season on Wednesday, Sept. 9, rather than on the first Thursday of the season as is usual, Joe Flint of the Wall Street Journal reports.
It has been known for more than a month that the Super Bowl LX champions might start on Wednesday, with the NFL also playing a Week 1 game in Australia. The Rams and 49ers will play in Melbourne to open the season. The Seahawks’ opponent is not yet known, with the NFL to release the schedule in May.
But it was uncertain which game would take place on which day.
The Seahawks’ game, which NBC will televise at 8:20 p.m. ET, will mark only the second time in 75 years that the NFL has opened its season with a Wednesday game. The Cowboys and Giants played on a Wednesday in 2012 to avoid a conflict with Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The Wednesday night game will create a conflict in Seattle, with the Mariners and Sounders also scheduled to play that night. The Major League Baseball team and the Major League Soccer are expected to reschedule their games.
The Seahawks will play the Cardinals, Cowboys, Giants, Bears, Chiefs, Chargers or Patriots in the season opener.
The NFL is unable to play a game on Friday in Week 1 this season. Under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, the NFL is banned from televising games on Friday night or Saturday from the second weekend in September through the second weekend in December. The way Labor Day fell in 2024 and 2025, the league was able to play games on the Friday of opening weekend.
The Seahawks are re-signing inside linebacker and core special teams player Chazz Surratt to a one-year deal, Aaron Wilson of KPRC reports.
Surratt, 29, spent last season with the Seahawks after they signed him Aug. 28 following his release by the 49ers. He played 60 percent of the Seahawks’ special teams snaps before going on injured reserve with an ankle injury.
He was activated back to the active roster before Super Bowl LX but was inactive for the game.
Surratt has appeared in 52 career games for the Vikings, Jets, and Seahawks since 2021, when he entered the league as a third-round pick of Minnesota. He has played 153 defensive snaps and 848 on special teams in his career.
