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Salk: 2 concerns for Seahawks after the huge JSN extension

The Seattle Seahawks did the right thing this week in signing Jaxon Smith-Njigba to a long-term extension.

Seahawks keep key part of offense with JSN’s record-setting extension

He deserves it. What he did – Offensive Player of the Year, the amount of the offense that ran through him, the amount of successful plays that he had, and then couple all of that with the lack of ego – it just makes him the perfect candidate for a big money extension. And I think the team can give it to him without any fear that he’s going to change as a person or as a player.

It’s a great deal for the Seahawks. I will also say that it’s a lot of money. Not just for him, but when you combine it with the Rashid Shaheed salary, the Jake Bobo salary and the Cooper Kupp salary, they’ve spent $225 million just in money on wide receivers this year. That is a lot for a team that wants to be balanced, wants to run the ball – and in fact ran the ball more than anybody last year – and for my money is still built along the defensive line.

So I am very good with the Seahawks signing Jaxon, and I know they’re probably going to sign cornerback Devon Witherspoon to a big extension as well. That’s all great. Spend the big money. But please, I need to know that two things are going to happen.

One, I really don’t want to hear next offseason that they don’t have the money for defensive tackle Byron Murphy II or outside linebacker Derick Hall, two guys that I think are key pieces both to their current success and to their future success. I want to make sure that you still have the money available under the salary cap to spend on the guys in the middle, up front where it really, really matters.

The other thing is you’re putting a lot of pressure on next year’s draft. This year’s draft, you only have four picks and nobody seems to think that this is a great crop. But next year, you may have 12 picks in that draft, and everyone says it’s going to be a great draft class.

Seahawks poised for stockpile of picks in strong 2027 NFL Draft

Well, if you want to spend big money at cornerback, at wide receiver, at wide receiver, at wide receiver, eventually probably at quarterback, not to mention offensive tackles Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas and everything else you’ve got to do along your defensive line, you better bring in some high quality starters on very cheap deals. And the best way to do that is to hit on five or six starters out of a huge draft class that could include 12 different names.

This post is a transcript of the video at the top of the post. It is edited for clarity. Catch Mike Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.