Devon Witherspoon just became the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history
The Seahawks locked up their All-Pro corner to a four-year, $132 million deal hours before their preseason opener - and the ripple effects will be felt from New England to the rest of the CB market.
In brief
Devon Witherspoon just became the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history
The timing was almost cinematic. Hours before the Seattle Seahawks ran onto the field for their preseason opener against the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday, the team and star cornerback Devon Witherspoon agreed to a contract extension that immediately reset the market at the position. The deal is four years and $132 million with $101 million guaranteed. It averages $33 million per season and makes Witherspoon the highest-paid cornerback in league history.
Three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Witherspoon and the Seahawks reached the agreement with sources telling ESPN's Adam Schefter it's a four-year deal worth $132 million. The deal tops the two-year, $62.2 million contract signed by the Cleveland Browns' Denzel Ward earlier this offseason. Ward had been the previous high-water mark. Witherspoon blew past it.
A three-time Pro Bowler, Witherspoon earns the extension after receiving All-Pro Second Team honors and anchoring a Seahawks defense that was dominant in 2025 en route to Seattle's second Super Bowl title. The three-time Pro Bowler has notched two interceptions and 32 pass breakups across three seasons, with his versatility apparent in 4.5 career sacks and a pair of forced fumbles. Those aren't just cornerback numbers. That's a chess piece.
The Seahawks drafted Witherspoon with the fifth pick in 2023 - a pick they acquired from the Denver Broncos in the Russell Wilson trade - and took Jaxon Smith-Njigba 20th that year. The two have since developed into franchise cornerstones for the Super Bowl champions. Witherspoon's extension follows one handed out to Smith-Njigba, who received a four-year, $168.6 million extension in March. Both first-rounders from the same draft class, both now locked up for years. Seattle's front office has a plan and it's been methodical about executing it.
Witherspoon's extension comes after a breakthrough of sorts, with NFL Network and ESPN's Ian Rapoport saying on Inside Training Camp on Aug. 8 that a deal wasn't close. A week later it was done. Throughout training camp, Witherspoon was adamant about not 'holding in' amid his contract negotiations. 'We've got a long season ahead of us, man, contract or not,' he said. 'We've still got to play football at the end of the day, and we've got to be out there and be prepared. If you're not practicing, you're not getting ready for the season because everybody else in the league is practicing and they're getting better.'
Head coach Mike Macdonald noticed. 'I'm really impressed by it, honestly,' Macdonald said about Witherspoon's maturity in the process. 'It's something that you're not used to dealing with as a player.' After Seattle's preseason opener on Saturday night, a 17-7 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, Witherspoon talked about the extension he had been working toward all offseason.
Witherspoon became the fourth player in team history to be named to the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons. Last year, as the Seahawks were commemorating their 50th season, they named him one of the franchise's 50 greatest players of all time. He's 25 years old. Making that list at 25 is unusual. Getting paid like this at 25 is just the market catching up.
What it means around the league
Witherspoon has vaulted to the top of the pay scale for his position group, joining the Los Angeles Rams' Trent McDuffie, the Indianapolis Colts' Sauce Gardner, and the Cleveland Browns' Denzel Ward as cornerbacks making $30 million or more annually. The corner market was already moving fast. Witherspoon's deal accelerates everything.
Witherspoon's new deal should have a direct domino effect on the Seahawks' Super Bowl opponent, the New England Patriots. Fellow 2023 first-rounder Christian Gonzalez is also seeking an extension from the Pats. Gonzalez just got handed a number to work from. His agents will be on the phone Monday morning.
Witherspoon joins the Houston Texans' Will Anderson Jr. as the only top-five selections in the 2023 class to have worked out extensions. The rest of that quintet - three quarterbacks taken in the top four picks - haven't gotten there yet. Witherspoon and Anderson, the two edge and coverage anchors from that class, are the ones who have delivered and gotten paid for it.
With Witherspoon and Smith-Njigba under club control for a long stretch, the focus now shifts to Leonard Williams as the next key Seahawk to receive an extension. Williams is in the final year of his contract and the two sides are currently working on a deal. Seattle's offseason has been a quiet assembly line of extensions, not splashy free-agent signings.
With linebacker Ernest Jones locked in for another two seasons, Derick Hall newly extended, and Nick Emmanwori still on his rookie deal, the Seahawks have key young pieces in place for the foreseeable future. Now, after Witherspoon's extension, they have potentially the most important player on their Super Bowl-winning defense tied down too.
The preseason loss to Dallas on Saturday barely registered. Seattle went 17-7 against the Cowboys and nobody flinched. Now, all of the distractions of the offseason are behind Witherspoon and the Seahawks and they can focus on their Week 1 Super Bowl rematch with the Patriots. Witherspoon will be on the field for that one with a new contract in his pocket and $101 million already guaranteed.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
