General manager John Schneider proved his brilliance once again last offseason while adding to the Seattle Seahawks roster. The team already had a good group of young players and a couple of key veterans, but acquiring edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence and wide receiver Cooper Kupp added leadership pieces the team needed.
Those moves happened after a few necessary financial decisions that were not easy ones. Couple the money with the tenor of the locker room before last offseason, though, and the moves weren't quite as hard as they might have seemed then. After all, trading DK Metcalf and quarterback Geno Smith created cash and helped the team's culture.
But Metcalf and Smith, and the release of Tyler Lockett, followed previous offseason moves of releasing players like safety Quandre Diggs. The team needed cash to spend on other needs. Thankfully, that isn't something the Seahawks need to do this offseason.
Seattle Seahawks have a May 1 deadline to make a decision on Jaxson Smith-Njigba and Devon Witherspoon
Instead, Schneider can look toward locking up players for future seasons. That includes wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and cornerback Devon Witherspoon. Both were first-round picks in 2023, and each has already made multiple Pro Bowls. JSN and Witherspoon need to be long-term Seahawks, and that isn't breaking news.
Schneider will hopefully work out extensions with both this offseason, but before we get there, Seattle has another easy decision. By May 1, the team needs to decide whether to pick up the fifth-year options on the wide receiver and cornerback. The answer, of course, is yes.
This is one of the real values of landing a star player in round one. A team has the player under club control for at least five years. What is even better, though, is when a team doesn't wait until year five (or after) to try to work out a longer-term deal. Instead, doing so before year four is a win-win for everyone and ends any potential contract drama the following year.
This season, Jaxon Smith-Njigba led the NFL in receiving yards with 1,793, won the NFL Offensive Player of the Year award, and his number of receptions (119) and receiving yards set Seattle Seahawks franchise records. He is already number 11 on the team's all-time receiving yards list, and could move as high as number seven after next season.
Witherspoon was named Second-Team All-Pro in 2025, even though he missed five regular season games. In the Seahawks' Super Bowl victory against the New England Patriots, Witherspoon had a sack, three quarterback hits, a tackle for loss, and forced quarterback Drake Maye to throw an interception that edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu returned for a 45-yard touchdown.