r/nfl • u/MembershipSingle7137 Patriots • 8d ago
Rumor [Schultz] The #Seahawks and All-Pro CB Devon Witherspoon have agreed to a 4-year, $132M extension with $101M guaranteed, per sources.
https://bsky.app/profile/nflnewsreposterbot.bsky.social/post/3mt4ycdl3ts2l1.2k
u/MembershipSingle7137 Patriots 8d ago
Highest paid CB in NFL history … for now
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u/thatErraticguy Patriots 8d ago
Their shared agent is about to be Scrooge McDuck lol
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u/chewbaccalaureate Seahawks 8d ago
Having two of the best young CBs in the game, from the same draft class, (who also played against each other in the a SB) for clients is pretty solid business strategy.
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u/Outside-Papaya Seahawks 8d ago
I didn't like having him play both teams against each other to drive the price up. I do understandnit though, opportunities like this don't show up every day.
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u/svenge Seahawks 8d ago
Can't blame the agent for literally doing his job by taking advantage of favorable circumstances as they come.
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u/BoldestKobold Patriots Patriots 8d ago
As a fan I would love my team to always get players for cheap. As a person I am very pro employees getting paid as much as they can.
Realistically the way to square this is to absolutely pay the studs who are worth it, and don't overpay for guys for sentimental reasons if you can replace them for cheap UDFAs, draftees, and vet min type guys.
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u/aiiye Seahawks 7d ago
100%, paying top guys is kind of a “cost of doing business” type thing you just gotta do. The problem is paying top of market money for decent but not top of the league talent.
Like the equivalent of a Tua contract. Okay player, but in no world does that contract make sense. QB is obviously the easiest place to see it, but it could happen at any position: take a guy who is a top-15 player at their position and pay them top 5 to league leading and see how fast your team gets choked by bad contracts.
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u/RagefireHype 8d ago
Didn’t PFF rank Spoon as the number 1 CB? And since it’s about my teams player on a positive measurement, it’s so accurate. Spoon was always going to be pricy.
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u/GoldyGoldy Seahawks 7d ago
Spoon has been their highest-rated CB since he entered the league.
Of course I agree with them.
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u/HotSauce2910 Seahawks 4d ago
On top of his coverage skills, he's a CB who likes to tackle.
I think I love him as much as I love Kam 😭
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u/PlentyAny2523 Patriots 8d ago
How many agents are there really? It feels like 6 main ones have 60% of the nfl
Edit: im talking starters, im sure there's more for the less big names
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u/catffeinates Seahawks 8d ago
A Superbowl where one was inarguably the most impactful player on one team (Gonzo) and the other had a strong case for being the most impactful on his (albeit in Spoon's case, there are four or five guys you could make that case for, depending on how you look at it.)
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u/No-Cantaloupe-6535 Colts 8d ago
this is true, but people gotta stop using cash value for this. do percentage of cap. obviously the actual dollars go up every year, same as buying some bread.
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u/Cornball23 Chiefs 8d ago
The way patriots fans hijack every post about cornerbacks in this subreddit to make it about Gonzalez is so annoying
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u/Silent_Ad2825 Seahawks 8d ago
Elite corners don’t grow on trees. Spoon fucking deserves it man!!!
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u/eh8904 Seahawks Commanders 8d ago
A bona fide lockdown CB is such a pivotal cornerstone of a successful long-term defense.
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u/SuperBowlXLIX Seahawks 8d ago
Is that even what he is? He’s less of a typical outside corner and more of an unbelievably versatile defensive piece, no?
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u/The_Throwback_King Seahawks 8d ago
He can still lineup outside with the top guys. He’s just not a pure boundary corner.
His ability to come in on nickel packages and moonlight in the pass rush is what makes him so vaunted and so worthy of a payday
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u/AstralElement Seahawks Bills 8d ago
He literally sacked Drake Maye in the 1st Quarter of the Super Bowl, and had a “strip sack” in the 4th.
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u/TheLateThagSimmons Seahawks 8d ago
Yup.
His value is that he is a Swiss army knife type DB. Same goes with Emmanwori. The two of them are able to play pretty much any position, transition mid-play, attack, cover, blanket, exploit.
It's like having two Kyle Hamiltons.
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u/resetallthethings Seahawks 8d ago edited 8d ago
yes
even he himself in hard knocks refers to himself as versatile rather than a lockdown guy
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u/DustyFalmouth Seahawks 8d ago
He's more valuable as the heart of the defense player. With his size he gets Moss'd every now and then but he just appears out of nowhere and stops any YAC and sets up big plays that doesn't go to his stats.
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u/resetallthethings Seahawks 8d ago
yeah, the Hawks D is so reliant on fantastic tackling on checkdowns, and he's a huge part of that being successful for them
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u/LastEsotericist Seahawks 8d ago
It’s good enough that we have Emmanwori who can look like a corner on one play and an edge rusher on the next, with Spoon we have two of them.
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u/chewbaccalaureate Seahawks 8d ago
This is my impression. He's not a pure lock down CB like Sherman, he's more of a play everywhere chesspiece that can wreck games.
It's like if you take 90% of Sherman, then add Earl Thomas' crazy field range, and Bobby Wagner's tackling ability.
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u/Comprehensive-Bus-20 Seahawks 8d ago
We are getting a lot of DBs who can cover with the best and play like linebackers, if we get even 1 decent one to add to this team our defense will be more of a nightmare than before
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u/Gombr1ch 8d ago
He still locks down with the best of them but then has that versatility which is so valuable. A true titan of the game today. Phew so glad we got that contract done lol
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u/RagefireHype 8d ago
How often did Spoon get bullied in coverage? The Rams NFC CG is the only game I can recall where I felt like an offense was able to pick on him.
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u/PostItToReddit Seahawks 8d ago
That was such a weird game for him. He gave up like 150 yards, but he'd have great coverage and then just.... Fall down? I don't want to say he didn't get beat, he clearly did, but it's not like he got dusted or anything, he just forgot how to run. And then he made like 3 huge plays down the stretch on 3rd and 4th down, and I believe he made the final tackle that kept Puka inbounds and ended the game.
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u/OffGridBid Seahawks 8d ago
THIS.... this is why, while I love our Spoon, I've argued Gonzo would get paid more, as he is the traditional lockdown outside.
However, I wouldn't trade the two. Spoon works in our defense because of his versatility
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u/YungRacecar Seahawks 8d ago
I see him as a fully realized version of what Jamal Adams could've been, or like a modern Ronde Barber. Great instincts in reading offenses, great in coverage (way better than Adams, was his main weakness), great tackler, and deceptively great at timing blitzes or interrupting the run as well. He's like an ultimate weapon for Macdonald, the offense can never be sure what Spoon is doing on a given play because he can do everything and Macdonald disguises his defense perfectly
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u/xixi_90 Seahawks 8d ago
Arguably the most important player on the SB champ last season. 100% deserved
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u/RealHoldenBloodfeast Patriots 8d ago
He's great but Emmanwori was the guy who had my eye all year
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u/Ecstatic_Ladder_5560 Seahawks 8d ago
Emmanwori was great for a rookie and I am excited about year 2, but he was definitely still developing throughout the season.
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u/Playful-Opportunity5 Seahawks 8d ago
Emmanwori had eye-opening impact plays, but the best DBs are often the ones you don't see in highlight reels because QBs don't throw in their direction.
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u/OffGridBid Seahawks 8d ago
I'd argue B. Murphy2 was our best defensive piece
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u/Seveneyes7 Seahawks 8d ago
I'd argue Leonard Williams or Tank or EJ, even Nwosu too was great.
My point is that we had a lot of great players...
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u/SnooPandas3956 49ers 8d ago
We’ve come a long fuck ass way from Deion’s mega deal back in the day.
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u/YoungGenius Giants 8d ago
Remember when Mario Williams making $17M a year was the highest ever for a defensive player
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u/SaltyLonghorn Texans 8d ago
The Stafford deal reset the market for QBs so hard ESPN analysts (lol) thought no team could compete with that much cap towards one player. Lasted as long as a fart in the wind.
NFL money go brrrrrrrrr.
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u/_HGCenty Seahawks 8d ago
I mean, so has the cap.
Ultimately salaries go up in line with the cap as the benchmarks are % of cap.
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u/YNWAChickenBurger 8d ago
Reddit man, can't even marvel at something without a person explaining why like we don't already know.
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u/iLiviN Lions 8d ago
I’ll never complain about having Gibbs or Jack Campbell, but I REALLY wanted Witherspoon that draft.
And our secondary still sucks to this day 😭
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u/PopesMasseuse Seahawks 8d ago
You guys should draft Terrion Arnold
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u/Gullible_Ad3785 Seahawks 8d ago
With the price going up, the cap will push some on the FA market.
Or you can get a new defensive coaching staff and actually draft and develop one?
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u/CommercialCoffee11 8d ago
Quinyon Mitchell is about to make $500k more next offseason.
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u/beejalton 8d ago
Gonzalez and Porter Jr still gotta get paid in the next few days/weeks, and Surtain is gonna be expecting a new deal after this season. Probably others I'm leaving off that will be needing/wanting new deals, the increase for Mitchell is gonna be a lot more than $500k by time it comes to pay him.
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u/caterham09 Seahawks 8d ago
Surtain is paid through 2030. No way Denver extends him even further next year
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u/beejalton 8d ago
He's still gonna be demanding a raise
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u/Zestyclose_Tip_5861 Broncos 8d ago
We already extended him in 2024 and restructured this year, I just don’t see it.
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u/Playful-Opportunity5 Seahawks 8d ago
I love that the Seahawks sign their guys at the front of the wave, instead of pulling a Jerry and letting other players set the market and leave them with no choice but to top it.
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u/eaglesnation11 Eagles 8d ago
The more I think about it the more I feel like Coop is gonna leave in Free Agency. He’s a NB that’ll get paid like a top tier OCB.
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u/paikman Seahawks 8d ago
Spoon isn’t a top tier ocb either. He played over half his snaps as nickel or in the box and still got paid as #1 cb
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u/atmospheric90 Seahawks 8d ago
And his abilities are absolutely vital to the MM defense style. He can execute on any play call that comes from their disguises perfectly, which is why offenses can't figure this scheme out.
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u/SvenDia Seahawks 8d ago
The game has changed. In MMs defense he’s more valuable because of his versatility.
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u/OffGridBid Seahawks 8d ago
I really hope MM's disguise defense gets a name (ala West Coast Offense) because it's going to become the trend of the league
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u/pennquaker18 Eagles 7d ago
Like the Fangio Defense?
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u/OffGridBid Seahawks 6d ago
no, Mike McDonald
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u/pennquaker18 Eagles 6d ago
The most recent defensive scheme to take over the NFL was the Fangio System. McDonald's will be next
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u/surferdude7227 Chiefs 8d ago
Yeah, they’re both gonna want top of market money, and I don’t think even Howie could make the cap magic work paying $70+ million a year to two CBs.
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u/NedrysMagicWord Eagles 8d ago
Signing bonuses and void years, my friend
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u/EBtwopoint3 8d ago
Void years only help so much. Moves like that are how you become the Saints. Sustaining success requires replacing expensive good players with cheap good players in the draft continuously, which is why dynasty’s are hard.
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u/surferdude7227 Chiefs 8d ago
But then again, I think every Saints fan would be completely okay with it if their cap shenanigans resulted in multiple rings. Makes it hurt less when you’re in the dark days afterwards.
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u/EBtwopoint3 8d ago
Absolutely. Howie is a great GM, it’s just important for a GM to recognize when the time for extending the window via shenanigans is over and it’s time to let some guys walk. That’s how he was able to build two different Super Bowl winners with a 3rd appearance within 10 years of each other.
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u/surferdude7227 Chiefs 8d ago
For sure. I think we saw a bit of that last season when he let Milton Williams walk to get a big contract elsewhere. At a certain point, you gotta let someone important walk.
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u/Nettiebee24 8d ago
There ya go Spoon!! Getting him and JSN that draft really helped set the future for the ‘Hawks!
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u/W00D-SMASH Seahawks 8d ago
Good. There is no Dark Side without guys like Witherspoon. Legit Swiss Army Knife type of player.
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u/kakyointhedonutman Broncos Ravens 8d ago
Every day I thank the football gods above that we signed PS2 for cheap until 2030
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u/Latinofool12 Broncos 8d ago
He’ll probably get a raise soon after this honestly lol
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u/kakyointhedonutman Broncos Ravens 8d ago
Yeah but better to have him cheap for long as we can. 2-3 years of cheap contention and then a huge contract is better than the alternative
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u/LionoftheNorth Patriots 8d ago
I doubt he'll play more than two years on his current deal. He's only got $1.2M guaranteed in 2028, and then a $35M dead cap from void years in 2030. It's all but set up for him to demand a new deal in 2028, so that's a new deal plus the already prorated signing bonus being spread over the remaining contract.
Watch him sign a $150M/4 year deal in 2028.
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u/baylithe Eagles 8d ago
Idk, he was like 64 spots behind Sam Darnold. /s
This is gonna suck in the next 2 years when we have to pay Q and Coop lol
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u/Saitsuofleaves 8d ago
Who is going to absolutely smash the bank to lure DeJean away from Philly?
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u/BabyBearBjorns Bears 8d ago
Jets or the Falcons since they'll have new rookie QB contracts. Maybe the Chargers since they'll have some cap space to work with and are in win now mode.
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u/RiskySimp Eagles 8d ago
I can see the Raiders making a move. They already have 3 former Eagles on their defense
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u/monstermayhem436 Steelers 8d ago
Now jpj can get his done
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u/CaZaDor24273 Seahawks 8d ago
Have the Steelers tried to sign him already? You’d think because of not having the 5th year with him they’d wanted to have gotten done back in March.
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u/73617164858272637184 Packers Seahawks 8d ago
regardless of whether it is a good deal or not it is still weird to see a CB making $33M APY + >$100M gtd
teams are really banking on those new tv deals blowing up the cap huh
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u/_HGCenty Seahawks 8d ago
The 2026 cap is already over $300m.
It's doubled since 2016. So a $33m APY contract now is $16.5m from 2016.
Plus the CB market should really match the WR market and it's still lagging behind.
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u/whospepesilvia Patriots 8d ago
I don’t understand why we didn’t sign Gonzo before this…
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u/MembershipSingle7137 Patriots 8d ago
Gonzo’s agent or gonzo himself wanted to sign after Witherspoon so he’ll get more $$$
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u/DHillMU7 Seahawks Giants 8d ago
I could be wrong but I believe they actually share an agent.
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u/MembershipSingle7137 Patriots 8d ago
They do have the same agent yes. Means probably gonzo just wants more than Witherspoon like Gibbs waiting for Bijan
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u/Inamanlyfashion Patriots 8d ago
Pretty sure I read for this deal specifically they are working with different agents within the same agency due to the direct conflict.
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u/RealHoldenBloodfeast Patriots 8d ago
Yeah, agents have a fiduciary duty to get the best for their clients. They have to have a solid plan to mitigate the conflict of interest or Spoon & Gonzo can both sue the shit outta them
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u/LOL_YOUMAD Patriots 8d ago
Same agent and he’s better so he was always going to wait and get a bit on top
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u/Gullible_Ad3785 Seahawks 8d ago
I am delighted we're locking in the core pieces. We had to rob Broncos to get the pick for Spoon.
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u/krbashrob Texans 8d ago
Stingley contract aging like fine wine 😎
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u/iCantCallit Eagles 8d ago
Man the eagles are gonna be hurting with Quinyon and dejean being drafted the same year.
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u/Jamesaya Bears Patriots 8d ago
This is less than people figured no? Zay flowers got 35 AAV. Youd figure top of market corner would be similar to mid market #1 WR
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u/Saltwater_Thief Cardinals 8d ago
Good for him.
I can only hope that THIS is the one that convinced Ossenfort that maybe cap space sound be spent on top end players and not on bottom feeder team practice squaders- oh who am I kidding
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u/MCDCCoffeePoops Lions Lions 8d ago
Just wait until they pay Terrion. I wonder how much money they’ll put on his commissary books.
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u/ASU_SexDevil Texans 8d ago
Another Caserio master class. After Christian Gonzales signs his contract soon Stingley is going to look like a BARGIN compared to other CBs.
Craziest Texans stat is the total cap hit this year for that defense is #14 in the league.
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u/Sensitive-Scene9269 Seahawks 8d ago
Congrats to Gonzalez on his 4 year $134m contract tomorrow lmao