The Seattle Seahawkssigned wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba to a historic contract extension on Monday. It’s a four-year deal worth $168.6 million, making Smith-Njigba the highest-paid wide receiver in NFL history at $42.15 million per year. The extension contains more than $120 million in guarantees.
Extending Smith-Njigba now before the price keeps going up was incredibly wise. Interestingly enough, it also comes with a lower scheduled cap charge for JSN in 2027. That’s a benefit for general manager John Schneider.
JSN’s 2026 cap hit increases by $5.8 million, but his 2027 hit is lowered by $8.2 million, according to Over The Cap.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s #Seahawks Extension
– 4 yrs, $168.6M new
– 6 yrs, $195.1M total
– $69.13M guaranteed at sign
– $30M more next FEB
– $36.5M 2026 cash
– 4 years, $120M practicalJSN’s 2026 cap hit increases $5.8M, but his 2027 hit is lowered by $8.2M.
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— Spotrac (@spotrac) March 23, 2026
According to OTC, a $30 million guaranteed option bonus in 2027 helps to temper cap hits over the next two seasons. All $69.13 million of Smith-Njigba’s 2026-2027 compensation was fully guaranteed at signing.
The Seahawks previously exercised the fifth-year option for JSN. That initially projected his approximate $23.852 million base salary in 2027 to be fully guaranteed, meaning the full amount would qualify as the cap charge. Via the recent extension, JSN’s 2027 cap charge has now dropped to $15.6 million.
That’s one of the benefits of opting for extensions as opposed to fifth-year options. You can lower the immediate cap charges by spreading out the money to future years. Expect the same to happen for Devon Witherspoon soon.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Record-setting JSN extension comes with lower 2027 cap hit
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