Seahawks’ Witherspoon becomes last pick to sign

Brady Henderson is a reporter for NFL Nation at ESPN. Henderson covers the Seattle Seahawks. He joined ESPN in 2017 covering the team for Seattle Sports 710-AM. You can follow him via Twitter @BradyHenderson.

SEATTLE — Cornerback Devon Witherspoon’s brief holdout has come to an end.

Witherspoon signed his four-year rookie contract with the Seattle Seahawks, it was announced Friday. The fifth overall selection in April’s draft was the last remaining pick who had yet to sign.

The four-year, $31.86 million deal, which is fully guaranteed, includes a $20.17 million signing bonus. It also contains a fifth-year team option that is standard for first-round picks.

The contract parameters were all predetermined; the sticking point was with how the signing bonus would be paid.

The Seahawks, like some other teams, defer portions of bigger bonuses to later dates for cash-flow purposes. Witherspoon wanted more of his bonus up front than what the team was offering.

Witherspoon has missed the first two practices of training camp but hasn’t been subject to fines because he hasn’t been under contract. After the first practice Wednesday, coach Pete Carroll gave brief answers to questions about Witherspoon’s absence, saying he anticipated the cornerback to “be here very soon.”

The Seahawks will hold their third practice Friday afternoon.

Witherspoon, who played collegiately at Illinois, is the Seahawks’ highest draft pick since Carroll and general manager John Schneider took over in 2010.

Witherspoon took part in spring practices despite not having signed his rookie deal, though he was limited early by what Carroll said was a hamstring injury. In addition to working with the No. 1 defense at left cornerback in the spring, Witherspoon got reps at nickelback. Carroll said Wednesday that Witherspoon will continue to compete there with Coby Bryant when he returns.

Draft picks missing practices in training camp has become rare since the implementation of the rookie wage scale in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, though it’s not unprecedented. Quarterback Zach Wilson, the fifth overall pick in 2021, missed the first two practices of New York Jets camp that year before his rookie deal was signed.

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