The Seattle Seahawks will be spending and setting aside a lot of cash in the next two months. Not only will free agency begin in a little over a week, but the team might decide whether to pick up the fifth-year options for Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Devon Witherspoon and now know how much that will cost.
The NFL released figures for the franchise tag, transition tag, and the fifth-year options for first-round picks from 2023. Witherspoon was the fifth overall selection and has made three Pro Bowls (that will be important in a minute), while JSN was the 20th overall pick and was named to one.
Technically, Smith-Njigba has been involved in two Pro Bowls, but he was an alternate in one of those, so it doesn't truly count. As great as he was in 2025, he won't be paid among the top tier of wide receivers from the first round of his draft class because he didn't make at least two Pro Bowls initially.
Fifth-year option price tags announced for Seattle Seahawks' Devon Witherspoon and Jaxon Smith-Njigba
Assuming the Seahawks pick up both fifth-year options for the wide receiver and the cornerback, and there is absolutely no reason they shouldn't, the players would be with the team through at least 2027, but likely with an extension worked out before the end of the option season, just as Seattle did with left tackle Charles Cross this season.
The price tag for the fifth-year options? For Witherspoon, his fully guaranteed 2027 salary would be $21,161,000. For JSN, the amount would be $23,852,000. Had Smith-Njigba made the Pro Bowl twice without being an alternate in one season, his salary would have been $27,298,000. The decision on the fifth-year option is May 1, but it will be an easy one.
After that comes the more difficult work of working out an extension. Smith-Njigba recently said he wants to be the highest-paid wide receiver in the league, which would put his annual salary north of the Cincinnati Bengals' Ja'Marr Chase, currently the highest-paid wideout, whose annual salary is $40.25 million a year.
The highest annual salary for a cornerback, assuming Devon Witherspoon will ask to be paid the most as his position, is the Indianapolis Colts' Sauce Gardner at $30.1 million a season.
Fortunately, general manager John Schneider has built the team brilliantly. He hasn't overspent on any one player enough to throw off the total cap. The Seattle Seahawks in 2027 are projected to have $128,336,534 in cap space, according to Over the Cap. That would diminish quickly, though, if JSN and Witherspoon get paid a combined $45 million for their fifth-year options.