Seahawks' Jaxon Smith-Njigba: 'I deserve to be the highest paid' WR in NFL

SEATTLE — One of the big questions for the Seattle Seahawks as they enter the offseason is whether they will get long-term extensions done with receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and cornerback Devon Witherspoon.

First-round picks in 2023 and three years into their initial rookie deals, each is now eligible for a new contract.

When it comes to Smith-Njigba, the Seahawks may now know what the starting baseline for any negotiation is — $40 million per season.

Smith-Njigba said during an interview this week with Jonah Javad of WFAA in Dallas — Smith-Njigba grew up in nearby Rockwall, Texas — that he deserves to be the highest-paid player at his position.

“I’m really not too pressed right now to get it done,” Smith-Njigba said about a pending new contract. “I know my time is coming and when we get it done it’s gonna be a great deal. And, you know, God’s timing is perfect timing. So, whenever that may come, we’ll be ready for it, and I think I believe I deserve to be the highest paid in my position. Just what I give to the game and the community, you know, I give it my all. I think that’s worth a lot.”

Taken at its most literal, that would mean Seattle giving Smith-Njigba a deal topping the $40.25 million annual salary of Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase, currently the highest-paid receiver in the NFL.

Chase signed a four-year extension worth up to $161 million with the Bengals on March 18, 2025. That deal included $73.9 million fully guaranteed at signing.

Before Chase signed his deal, the highest-paid receiver had been Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson, who signed a contract in 2024 worth up to $35 million per year.

Smith-Njigba can certainly make a legitimate case for wanting to be the highest-paid receiver after a season in which he was named The Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year, first-team All-Pro, led the league with 1,793 yards, which was eighth-most in NFL history and a franchise record, and finished fourth in receptions with 119, also a franchise record.

“I would play this game for free,” Smith-Njigba said. “I love this game so much. But you don’t have to, and I’m learning to be a good businessman, and we need that check at the end of the day.”

Smith-Njigba in 2026 will be entering the final season of his four-year rookie contract, due to pay him a salary of $1.550 million. The total worth of that contract is $14.417 million.

Drafted players cannot negotiate new deals until after their third season. But that means Smith-Njigba, Witherspoon and other members of the class of 2023, such as rush end Derick Hall, are now eligible for extensions.

Because Smith-Njigba and Witherspoon were first-round picks, the Seahawks could exercise fifth-year options on each player, keeping them under contract for the 2027 season at a salary determined by a formula that considers factors such as playing time and Pro Bowl berths.

Teams have until May 1 to exercise the option. OvertheCap.com projects Witherspoon’s option would mean a salary of $21.414 million for the 2027 season while Smith-Njigba’s is projected at $18.003 million. The salaries are fully guaranteed at the time the option is exercised.

But fifth-year options are usually regarded as stopgap measures with the goal for both team and player typically being a long-term deal.

Seattle exercised the option last year on left tackle Charles Cross but then signed him in January to a four-year extension worth up to $104 million that keeps him under contract through the 2030 season.

Cross was the first player Seattle used the option on since it was introduced in 2011.

Cross was one of 18 players around the league to have options exercised last season.

But like Cross, a few others then signed extensions, such as receiver Garrett Wilson of the Jets, a former teammate of Smith-Njigba’s at Ohio State, who agreed to a four-year deal worth up to $130 million with $38.3 million fully guaranteed last July.

The Seahawks could do similarly with Smith-Njigba and Witherspoon — exercise the option to assure their status through 2027 at the least, but then continue working on a long-term extension.

Seattle’s timeline has typically been to deal with the current season first and then move on to extensions with players still under contract.

That means making decisions first on the likes of running back Kenneth Walker III, receiver Rashid Shaheed and safety Coby Bryant and others who can become unrestricted free agents on March 11, two days after the beginning of the free agent negotiating period.

Then, after this year’s free agent signing period and the April draft, the Seahawks and general manager John Schneider can turn their eye to extensions for Smith-Njigba and Witherspoon.

Recall the Seahawks have often gotten extensions for players entering the final years of their contracts completed in the summer, often just before the start of training camp or early into camp, as was their custom with the likes of Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner in the LOB days.

But the knowledge that extensions for Smith-Njigba and Witherspoon are looming will influence how the Seahawks handle some of their immediate issues.

Witherspoon, who will complete a four-year rookie deal worth just over $31 million in 2026, will also likely be looking for a new deal at the top of the cornerback market, which would mean getting roughly $30 million per season.

It was reported last week that the Seahawks are not likely to use a franchise tag on Walker, which would guarantee him a salary of $14.5 million for the 2026 season. One reason why is that all of that would go on the salary cap for 2026, a number the Seahawks wouldn’t want to take.

While the Seahawks have $58.6 million in effective cap space — sixth-most in the league — they’ll likely want to save some of that for potential extensions for Smith-Njigba and Witherspoon in the summer.

And yes, the Seahawks are now for sale, and some might wonder if that will impact any decisions in the interim, but the assumption is all will be business as usual in terms of signing extensions and giving out the eight-figure signing bonuses that go with them.

A popular story as the Seahawks emerged as surprise Super Bowl contenders this year — and then as champions in emphatic fashion — was the impact of the draft classes of 2022 and 2023.

Each was built heavily on the shoulders of the Russell Wilson trade (Cross and Witherspoon, for instance, were each taken with picks from that deal).

But a reality of the NFL is that the bill for success gleaned on rookie deals always comes due eventually, and that time is arriving for the Seahawks.

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