Seahawks exercise fifth-year player options for Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Devon Witherspoon

The Seattle Seahawks have exercised the fifth-year options in the contracts of cornerback Devon Witherspoon and receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the team announced Friday, keeping the two young stars under contract for the 2027 season.

Witherspoon was the fifth pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, and Smith-Njigba was drafted 20th on the same night. Only first-round picks have fifth-year options in their deals. Witherspoon, a three-time Pro Bowler (all on the original ballot), is now on the books for a fully guaranteed projected salary of $21.1 million in 2027, and Smith-Njigba, who made one Pro Bowl on the original ballot, is now expected to make approximately $23.8 million, according to Over the Cap.

Witherspoon was voted second-team All-Pro, while Smith-Njigba was unanimously voted first-team All-Pro in 2025, which ended with the Seahawks winning Super Bowl 60. The team plans to negotiate contract extensions with the players’ representatives.

Witherspoon, the highest-drafted player of the John Schneider era, was named one of the franchise’s 50 greatest players ahead of the 2025 season. Smith-Njigba won the NFL’s receiving crown with 1,793 yards and became the first Seattle player to be named first-team All-Pro receiver since Steve Largent in 1985. In February, Smith-Njigba became only the second player in franchise history to win AP Offensive Player of the Year (Shaun Alexander was the first).

Fifth-year options were introduced in the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement. Since then, Seattle has only ever exercised the option for one of its first-round picks: left tackle Charles Cross, who was drafted ninth in 2022. Cross signed a four-year, $104.4 million extension in early January.