‘Hard Knocks’ sheds light on Seahawks’ contract talks with Spoon

Three-time Pro Bowler Devon Witherspoon has been in negotiations with the Seattle Seahawks this offseason on a contract extension that could make him the NFL’s highest-paid cornerback.

What stood out from Seahawks’ ‘Hard Knocks’ debut

As expected, that was one of the big storylines featured during the Seahawks’ “Hard Knocks” debut.

Here’s a look at what general manager John Schneider and Witherspoon said regarding those contracts talks during Tuesday night’s premier on HBO.

What Schneider said

About 20 minutes into the episode, there was a cut of Schneider explaining to head coach Mike Macdonald that a report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport had caused some frustration for Witherspoon.

Rapoport reported on July 22 that the Seahawks had “made an extraordinary effort” to get a deal done that would likely make Witherspoon the NFL’s highest-paid cornerback, but that Witherspoon’s camp hadn’t accepted yet.

In his conversation with Macdonald, Schneider said he called Rapoport to relay to Witherspoon’s agent that the report didn’t come from the team.

“Spoon got wigged out … because Ian Rapoport reported that we were making him the highest-paid guy and he’s not accepting it and da-da-da-da,” Schneider said. “So I called Ian and was like, hey man, you need to call the agent and tell him that that’s not (expletive) coming from us.”

Schneider then explained that Seahawks vice president of player affairs Maurice Kelly met with Witherspoon to iron out any concerns and that the situation had apparently been resolved.

“Mo talked to Spoon, everything’s fine,” Schneider said. “He gets it. He’s in a good spot now.”

After that, Schneider was filmed in a one-on-one interview setting.

“We’ve had negotiations over the last 17 years that haven’t been real fun, but every individual is different,” Schneider said. “It’s the person, right? So Spoon is just like this great, high-energy, vibrant guy. We all have the same goal in mind, and we’d love to get that done because Spoon’s a great player.”

What Witherspoon said

Immediately after those two scenes, the episode shifted to a cut of Witherspoon discussing the matter while driving in his car. It was the star cornerback’s first public comments on his contract this offseason.

“Outside of the quarterback room, we’ve got the hardest position on the field,” Witherspoon said. “It’s hard to guard these guys, especially when you can’t touch them past 5 yards. I mean, like, these guys are real talented, man. It’s just a hard job to play.

“So when you’ve got a guy who can really shut down a receiver or just can be versatile like I am, you don’t come across those guys often, for real. So when you’ve got a premier corner like that, it’s just, you pay him. Like, please pay him. That’s all we saying.”

Witherspoon, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, still has two years left on his rookie deal after Seattle exercised the fifth-year option on his contract back in March. He has been a full participant in training camp.

By average annual value, the current NFL record for a cornerback contract belongs to the Cleveland Browns’ Denzel Ward, who agreed to a two-year, $62.2 million extension last week that averages $31.1 million per year.

New England Patriots star cornerback Christian Gonzalez, a 2023 first-round pick who is represented by the same agency as Witherspoon, also reportedly has been in negotiations for a potential record-setting extension.

“It’s not really something that’s on my mind right now,” Witherspoon continued while driving in his car. “My mind is to go win football games, bro. We trying to be the best team that we can be for this year. And stuff like that just gets in the way of doing that.

“Like, when you just put it to the side and let God handle that situation, it’s easy to just focus on the task at hand, which is getting better every day, training camp, battling these guys every day, competing every day. You can just focus on playing football.”

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