Seahawks, Leonard Williams Contract Extension Details

It’s worth noting that this is still a decrease from the prior cap hit, which was nearly $30 million, so there’s a savings of $7.6 million in this extension. That can fund the team’s practice squad and injury buffer for the year pretty easily. 2027’s cap hit is $23,086,250, and 2028 is $29,586,250, which is well worth it for a player of Big Cat’s caliber.

A 2029 Decision

The branch in the timeline comes in 2029, which is the last year of Williams’s new deal. That cap hit, $42,900,000 in a season where he’ll be 35 years old, is questionable even if the cap continues to go through the roof. At first glance, the decision seems simple, since Spotrac and OverTheCap list the dead cap as $8,800,000 to part ways.

Curtis Allen, my favorite cap wizard, has pointed out that this doesn’t include the option bonus proration, which by that point would be another $14 million. So the actual dead money amount is $22,800,000, making it much more complicated. It’s still over $20 million in savings, but a noticeable chunk of dead cap to eat. Ride it out, release, or extend?

Void Year Work

The final piece of the puzzle is void year money. The Seahawks have been using void years in recent years to spread out costs, although they’re not anywhere near as extreme as the Philadelphia Eagles. Williams has two void years here in the amount of $13,400,000. Insignificant in the grand scheme, but capable of adding up with other void contracts.

This is the John Schneider way. He isn’t interested in shoving everything into the middle for one season and leaving himself nothing to work with in a later season. He wants to build a contender that lasts for several years. And with contracts like this, I’d say he’s pulling it off.