A look under the hood at the Jaxon Smith-Njigba contract extension

Late on Friday, the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks announced that they had exercised the fifth year options of both 2023 first round picks in cornerback Devon Witherspoon and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

That, for those who have been following the offseason here at Field Gulls was a giant bat signal that John Schneider had very likely reached agreement on a contract extension with both of the young stars which would soon be announced.

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Then, early Monday reports emerged that Seattle had, indeed, reached agreement on a massive extension with JSN, making him the highest paid wide receiver in NFL history and the highest paid player in franchise history. Now, thanks to a report from Mike Florio, the details of the extension are known already posted at OverTheCap.com.

Breaking the contract down into its individual pieces, it looks like this:

• Signing bonus: $35M (fully guaranteed)

• 2027 option bonus: $30M (fully guaranteed)

• 2029 option bonus: $10M (guaranteed for injury, vests into full guarantee in February 2028)

• 2026 base salary: $1.25M (fully guaranteed)

• 2027 base salary: $1.531M (fully guaranteed)

• 2028 base salary: $18.837M (guaranteed for injury at signing, vests to full guarantee in February 2028)

• 2029 base salary: $19.9M (guaranteed for injury at signing, vests to full guarantee in February 2029)

• Workout bonus: $250k per year 2026-2031

• Per game roster bonuses: $850k each year 2027-2031

That’s a whole lot of detail, but fans are often most interested in learning about the cap hits, so here is how those break down by season:

• 2026: $10.371M ($1.25M base salary + $1.871M 2023 contract signing bonus proration + $7M 2026 contract signing bonus proration + $250k workout bonus)

• 2027: $15.63M ($1.531M base salary + $7M 2026 signing bonus proration + $6M 2027 option bonus proration + $850k per game roster bonuses + $250k workout bonus)

• 2028: $32.937M ($18.837M base salary + $7M 2026 signing bonus proration + $6M 2027 option bonus proration + $850k per game roster bonuses + 250k workout bonus)

• 2029: $36.5M ($19.9M base salary + $7M 2026 signing bonus proration + $6M 2027 option bonus proration + $2.5M 2029 option bonus proration + 850k per game roster bonuses + $250k workout bonus)

• 2030: $48.8M ($32.2M base salary + $7M 2026 signing bonus proration + $6M 2027 option bonus proration + $2.5M 2029 option bonus proration + 850k per game roster bonuses + $250k workout bonus)

• 2031: $50.3M ($37.7M base salary + $7M 2026 signing bonus proration + $6M 2027 option bonus proration + $2.5M 2029 option bonus proration + 850k per game roster bonuses + $250k workout bonus)

And that’s that, and now JSN is set to be a Seahawk for the foreseeable future, all the way up to through the 2031 season when he will be a whopping 29 years old.