RENTON, Wash. -- Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Devon Witherspoon and now Leonard Williams. The "Big Cat" on Thursday became the latest star player to receive a big payday from the Seattle Seahawks.
The reigning Super Bowl champions signed the veteran defensive tackle to a three-year extension that, sources told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, is worth $90 million. Williams will make $56 million guaranteed as part of the deal, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.
"It feels amazing," Williams said while holding his newborn son Zion, minutes after signing the deal. "I think this is maybe my first time being extended while under contract with a team. It just goes to show what type of organization we have here and just how much respect and love and appreciation that I have here, and I'm grateful to [general manager John Schneider] and Coach Mike [Macdonald] and everybody that it took to get this done and continue my career here. It feels amazing."
Williams, who was scheduled to become a free agent in 2027, is tied with the Buccaneers' Vita Vea for the fifth-highest average annual income for a defensive tackle in the NFL, behind the Eagles' Jalen Carter, Cowboys' Quinnen Williams, Titans' Jeffery Simmons and Chiefs' Chris Jones.
"We couldn't be more excited to get the deal done," Macdonald said. "He's a foundational player to our club from when we got here ... Obviously a tremendous, All-Pro-caliber player, the type of person he is, absolute A-plus person, teammate, the day-to-day, how much he's invested into our team and his teammates. Really excited to have it happen. It's really great news."
The Seahawks made Smith-Njigba the NFL's highest-paid receiver in March with a four-year, $168.6 million extension. Earlier this month, they made Witherspoon the game's top-paid cornerback with a four-year, $132 million extension. Seattle also extended outside linebacker Derick Hall for three years and $42 million in June.
"We want great players, great people, we want Seahawks on our team, as many as we can possibly have," Macdonald said. "You want to be able to pay everybody as much as you possibly can. Obviously there's limitations on these things ... But when they're game-changing-type guys like Leo, like Spoon, like Jax, we had the opportunity to lock them up for an extended period of time and make them foundational pieces of our team, that's got to fire you up. That's pretty awesome."
Williams, 32, is one of the most impactful players on a defense that was the NFL's top-ranked scoring unit in 2025. The Seahawks are making a significant bet he'll remain a dominant force into his mid-30s.
In polling conducted this offseason by ESPN's Fowler, Williams was voted the NFL's best defensive tackle by league executives, scouts and coaches. One coordinator called him "the most important player on that Super Bowl team," according to Fowler.
Pen to paper ✍️ pic.twitter.com/ggzGQgFP20
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) August 27, 2026
"That was amazing," Williams said last month of his No. 1 ranking. "I think it's awesome to get that recognition, especially later in my career."
When asked last month about his contract situation, Williams confirmed his agents and the Seahawks had been talking about an extension. He was entering the final year of the three-year, $64.5 million deal he signed to return to the Seahawks in March 2024.
Seattle acquired Williams in a midseason trade with the New York Giants in October 2023, giving up a 2024 second-round pick and a 2025 fifth-rounder.
Williams has made the Pro Bowl in each of his two full seasons with the Seahawks and earned second-team All-Pro honors in 2025. In 2024, he recorded 11 sacks and returned an interception 92 yards for a touchdown -- the longest pick-six by a defensive lineman in NFL history, according to ESPN Research.
Williams followed that up with seven sacks last regular season, adding another sack in the playoffs for the eventual Super Bowl LX champions.
Drafted with the No. 6 pick in 2015, Williams spent his first four-plus seasons with the New York Jets, who traded him to the Giants in 2019. He made the first of his three Pro Bowls in 2016. Over 11 seasons, he has 61.5 sacks in 175 regular-season games, including a career-high 11.5 in 2020.
Williams said he's been "transformed" since arriving in Seattle.
"I've had an up-and-down career," he said. "I had an up-and-down life outside of football as well, and since I've been here, I've just been more grounded, more locked in with the team, more locked in with my life outside of football. It's just made me a better person on the field and off the field."
Williams added that it's exciting to think about finishing his career in Seattle.
"Because this has been some of my best ball has been played here, some of my best relationships have been made here," he said. "I won a Super Bowl here. Like I've been saying multiple times, I feel like Seattle has changed my life, changed my career, and it means a lot to me to be able to finish that here."
