The Seahawks have exercised the fifth-year options on the rookie contracts of receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and cornerback Devon Witherspoon, the team announced Friday.
That means that each is now under contract through the 2027 season.
For Smith-Njigba, that means a guaranteed salary of $23.852 million for the 2027 season while Witherspoon will get $21.161 million, per the estimates of OvertheCap.com.
Those options are now fully guaranteed.
Fifth-year options are only available for first-round picks. Witherspoon was the fifth overall pick in 2025 out of Illinois and Smith-Njigba the 20thoverall pick out of Ohio State.
Each was entering the final year of their initial four-year rookie deals with Witherspoon due to make a base salary of $1.145 million in 2026 and Smith-Njigba $2.715 million.
In the case of each player, however, the expectation is that exercising the option is simply the first step in a process to get each under contract to long-term extensions at some point in 2026, likely before the start of the regular season.
Seattle last year exercised the fifth-year option on left tackle Charles Cross and then signed him to a four-year extension through the 2030 season in January.
Cross was the first time Seattle had exercised a fifth-year option since they were introduced as part of the NFL’s 2011 collective bargaining agreement.
Teams had until May 1 to exercise the options and Seattle did not exercise it on Cross last year until April 28. Picking up the options early for Witherspoon and Smith-Njigba may have been due both to simply taking care of some business now that was going to get done eventually and also making clear that each will be part of the team’s long-term future.
Each player could simply play the 2027 on the option if contract talks break down. But all of those salaries would go on the salary cap.
When the Seahawks signed Cross to an extension they were able to reduce a cap hit that would have been $17.5 million for 2026 had he planned on the option to $1.69 million.
The Seahawks’ actions since the NFL free agent negotiating period began on March 9 have appeared to make it even clearer the team is gearing up to get deals signed with each player this year.
Seattle finished Friday with almost $35 million in effective cap space for the 2026 season according to OvertheCap.com, sixth most of the 32 NFL teams, and have $76.8 million left for 2027, eighth most.
Smith-Njigba and Witherspoon each will likely seek deals that will make them among the highest-paid players at their position, if not the highest paid.
Smith-Njigba said as much last month when he stated “I believe I deserve to be the highest paid in my position” during an interview with WFAA television in Dallas, his hometown.
Ja’Marr Chase of the Bengals is the highest-paid receiver on a per-year average at $40.25 million followed by Minnesota’s Justin Jefferston at $35 million.
Ahmad Gardner of the New York Jets is the highest-paid cornerback on a per-year basis at $30.1 million followed by Derek Stingley Jr. of Houston at $30 million.
Bob Condotta: bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Bob Condotta is a sports reporter at The Seattle Times who primarily covers the Seahawks but also dabbles in other sports. He has worked at The Times since 2002, reporting on University of Washington Husky football and basketball for his first 10 years at the paper before switching to the Seahawks in 2013.