What If The Seattle Seahawks Trade Devon Witherspoon?

Witherspoon can’t be replaced. How many cornerbacks do you know who have proven they can excel in zone or man, outside or inside, the way Witherspoon has? An elite tackler, elite in run support, an elite blitzer, he brings so many uncommon skills forward that even other great players lack. Even if you had a top five pick, you’d be lucky to pull a player like this with it.

This defense doesn’t go the same way without him in the lineup. I fully believe that one of the reasons why Mike Macdonald was excited about coming here a couple years ago was the opportunity to work with someone like Devon Witherspoon. He’s 25 years old, so he might not even be in his prime yet. This is someone you break the bank to keep around.

I also don’t think there’s any reason to be truly concerned that someone else will happen. It’s May, we haven’t even started OTAs yet, the Seahawks did break typical procedure with the early JSN extension, and Witherspoon has two years left on his contract anyway. There could be all sorts of valid reasons why JSN got handled first.

Entertaining The Possibility

But it’s hard to completely dismiss the fact that JSN is already locked in to a market-setting extension, whereas updates on Witherspoon have been basically non-existent until yesterday. And I can’t help but note that the report we got indicated the team and player aren’t particularly close on the new deal yet, and wonder what that might mean.

Trent McDuffie just set the cornerback market at $31 million a year. Witherspoon is, by any reasonable measure, clearly a better and more valuable player than McDuffie. And even if he’s not, it’s natural to assume that Witherspoon’s extension would eclipse McDuffie’s just by virtue of the fact that McDuffie got extended first. Devon should be above that deal.

So, if the two sides are still far apart, either the team is doing a pretty sizable lowball, or the player wants an obscenely big deal. A third option would be that the dispute is over some other element of the deal, like length or guarantees, but is it possible that the team views Witherspoon as a $25 million a year player? Does Spoon want $35 million a year or more? Both?

Witherspoon has missed eight games in his three-year career thus far, so he doesn’t have the sterling injury history of JSN. His coverage numbers aren’t stellar, mostly fueled by a lack of interceptions and high touchdown rate. His size gives him a limitation that he can do nothing to fix, reducing his effectiveness against bigger receivers.

Is it possible that John Schneider doesn’t quite value Witherspoon the same way most of the fans, the league, and even Mike Macdonald do? Could this stall out contract talks and leave him on his rookie deal when the season starts? And could that lead to a 2027 offseason decision that would shock the league and remake the Seattle roster? I can’t rule it out.

If there’s any GM in the NFL right now who would be willing to make a shocking, daring trade of a highly-touted player, it’s John Schneider. No GM has been rewarded more for taking risks in the form of trading valuable veterans than John over the last several years. John has also proven to be someone who will fight tooth-and-nail to not overpay players.

I’m quite confident that, one way or another, Devon Witherspoon will be a Seahawk in 2026. We have a title to defend, and it’d be nigh-impossible to defend it without him. But if he plays out 2026 without a new deal, and the Seahawks have to contend with mega-extensions for Sam Darnold and Byron Murphy? It has to at least be considered.

What Would It Look Like?

Sauce Gardner was traded near the deadline last season for two first round picks and a semi-interesting young player. Would Spoon manage the same haul? I’d imagine so, although the math of a trade changes a bit during the offseason. What if the trading team had a high first in the 2027 draft (likely to be very strong) and strong bust potential?

Let’s say a team like the Commanders disappoints in 2026 and ends up with a pick around #10. There’d probably be some urgency to go for it in 2027, with Dan Quinn at the end of his rope and Jayden Daniels up for an extension. What about something like their 2027 and 2028 firsts along with Trey Amos? Could turn into a Russell Wilson-like coup, with some luck.

This is not a game I care to play. The Seahawks have, by and large, parted with players over the years who are clearly replaceable in a way that Witherspoon is not. I have no desire to watch my team keep chucking their dice across the table until they hit snake eyes just because they’ve been rolling well lately. But, I think exploring it is a good idea. Consider it explored.