With hopes of making a playoff push for the second consecutive season, the Seattle Seahawks made a midseason move ahead of the trade deadline, acquiring defensive tackle Leonard Williams from the New York Giants in exchange for a 2024 2nd-round pick and a 2025 5th-round pick. The acquisition of Williams didn’t result in a postseason appearance for Seattle — to make matters worse, the trade was widely considered a win for the Giants — and now the Seahawks enter the offseason with no guarantee that Williams, a pending free agent, will be on the team next season.
The good news for the Seahawks: there’s optimism around the league that Seattle and Leonard Williams will reach an agreement on a contract extension before he hits the open market.
“Defensive lineman Leonard Williams played well enough for the Seattle Seahawks after they acquired him at the trade deadline, and there’s hope the sides can reach a contract extension,” according to a source of Jeff Howe of The Athletic.
Once the 6th overall pick by the New York Jets in the 2015 NFL Draft, Leonard Williams was traded to the New York Giants for 3rd and 5th round picks back in 2019. After being franchise tagged by the G-Men twice, Williams signed a three-year, $63 million deal with the Giants in 2021.
Williams was a workhorse this past season, playing in eighteen games thanks to the midseason trade. His 884 snaps in the 2023 season were the 9th-most among interior defenders. He finished the season with 62 tackles, including 10 tackles for loss, plus 5.5 sacks and 16 QB hits.
It’s likely that Williams, 22nd highest-rated interior defender in the league according to Pro Football Focus, will soon ink a deal that will earn him somewhere in the range of $15 million to $17 million annually.
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