Last 12 months’s Super Bowl participants are each attempting to lock up their star cornerbacks with long-term extensions before the beginning of the regular season.
However the Seahawks’ negotiations with Devon Witherspoon and the Patriots’ with Christian Gonzalez are intrinsically tied together. Each players were drafted in the primary round of the 2023 draft – Witherspoon at No. 6 overall, Gonzalez at No. 18 – and each are represented by WIN Sports Group.
Witherspoon’s contract talks with Seattle are “further along,” per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, including a suggestion value greater than $30MM per 12 months. Trent McDuffie‘s $31MM AAV deal currently tops the positional market, but Rapoport adds that Witherspoon’s finalized extension will likely make him the highest-paid cornerback within the NFL.
The 25-year-old definitely has a robust claim to that status. He has earned Pro Bowl nods in each of his three NFL seasons, and in 2025, he received second-team All-Pro recognition for leading the Seahawks’ top-ranked defense to a Super Bowl win over Gonzalez’s Patriots. Witherspoon’s impact is amplified by his versatility and physicality within the slot, where he has graded out as one among the league’s best run-defending and pass-rushing cornerbacks, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
A Witherspoon extension should set the marketplace for Gonzalez and quickly result in an analogous agreement between him and the Patriots, Rapoport continues. Gonzalez was named a second-team All-Pro in 2024 and received his first Pro Bowl berth last season, making his resume barely lighter than Witherspoon’s. But he still played an important role in Recent England’s run to the Super Bowl and profiles as one among the league’s preeminent shutdown cornerbacks on the boundary, so he should still reach the $30MM mark. Signing after Witherspoon could even allow Gonzalez to match and even eclipse his number. Deals for each players are expected to be struck by Week 1.
Rapoport also mentions Browns Pro Bowler Denzel Ward as one other cornerback in search of a brand new deal who might be impacted by extensions for the 2023 first-rounders. Ward’s current contract, signed back in 2022, is value just $20.1MM per 12 months, and his play has only improved since then with three Pro Bowls within the last three seasons. Given the explosion in cornerback pay over the past two offseasons, the 2018 No. 4 pick is well-positioned for a solid raise before the season, especially if Witherspoon and/or Gonzalez put pen to paper in the approaching weeks.