The Champs Are Paying to Stay the Champs: Seahawks Give Leonard Williams $90M
Seattle handed its 32-year-old defensive tackle a three-year, $90M extension with $56M guaranteed — a big bet that the anchor of the NFL's top scoring defense keeps it up into his mid-30s.
August 27, 2026 at 1:36 PM EDT
1 min read
The reigning Super Bowl champions are keeping the band together. The Seahawks and defensive tackle Leonard Williams agreed Thursday to a three-year, $90 million extension that includes $56 million guaranteed, per ESPN's Adam Schefter, tying him to Seattle through 2029.
Adam Schefter confirms the $56M guaranteed on X
Williams' previous three-year, $64.5M deal was set to expire after the 2026 season. This one makes him, at an average of $30M per year, tied for the fifth-highest-paid defensive tackle in the league — behind Jalen Carter, Quinnen Williams, Jeffery Simmons and Chris Jones.
The bet Seattle is making
Williams, 32, was one of the most impactful players on the NFL's top-ranked scoring defense in 2025. Paying a defensive tackle into his mid-30s is exactly the kind of deal that can age badly — interior linemen wear down, and $56M guaranteed is a lot of runway. But a champion protecting the core of a title defense is a defensible reason to stretch, and it comes right after the team took care of cornerback Devon Witherspoon.
The market angle
Roster continuity is quietly one of the more reliable inputs to a team's season-long outlook. A defending champion that retains its best defensive player — rather than letting him walk and hoping a replacement holds — is the kind of offseason box that keeps a Super Bowl number from drifting. It won't move Seattle's odds on its own, but it removes a reason they might have softened. The clubs that keep their defensive anchors tend to keep their price.