Seattle just paid a record for a cornerback with two interceptions in three seasons

The most expensive cornerback in the league has two interceptions

Seattle agreed a four-year, $132m extension with Devon Witherspoon on Saturday [1]. It carries more than $101m guaranteed and makes him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history [1][2]. His $132m total passes the $124m the Rams gave Trent McDuffie. His $33m a year passes Denzel Ward’s $31.1m average at Cleveland [2].

Witherspoon is 25. Seattle took him fifth in 2023. He has made the Pro Bowl in all three seasons, and was second-team All-Pro in 2025 [1][2]. In the Super Bowl LX win over New England he sacked Drake Maye and delivered the hit that led to a pick-six [1].

Now the number a casual fan would reach for. In 43 career games he has two interceptions [2]. Alongside that: 32 pass break-ups, 16 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks and nine quarterback hits [2]. General manager John Schneider called the deal “a win-win” [1].

Seattle had already made Jaxon Smith-Njigba, drafted 15 picks later in the same round, the league’s highest-paid receiver in March [1][2].

The rule that decides when a club is allowed to know

There is a reason clubs all move at the same moment. Under the collective agreement, a drafted player’s contract cannot be renegotiated until the end of his third regular season [3]. Three seasons is the legislated minimum, and it is the same three for every position.

Two things then push clubs to sign the instant the door opens. Since the 2020 agreement, the fifth-year option is fully guaranteed once exercised, which removed the old reason to wait [3]. And the going rate for each position keeps climbing, so waiting a year is a price rise [3].

The result is a record. Ten first-round picks have signed new deals in 2026, against eight in 2025 and seven in 2024 [3]. New England’s Christian Gonzalez is still in talks, which would make eleven [3]. The 2026 list includes Will Anderson Jr at $50m a year and Smith-Njigba at four years and $168m [3]. Jalen Carter took four years and $152m, Peter Skoronski four years and $100m [3]. Running backs Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs each got roughly $67m over three years [3].

Older players get the same treatment from the other end. Tampa Bay ended defensive tackle Vita Vea’s hold-in on Wednesday [4]. Vea, 31, adds $6m to the $18m he was already due in 2026 and picks up another $24m in 2027, with $30m guaranteed [4]. He had asked for a trade last month because his existing deal guaranteed him nothing [4].

Verdicts published before a ball is kicked

The Premier League returns on Friday, when promoted Coventry City visit champions Arsenal for their first top-flight match in 25 years [5]. Nine clubs start with a new manager [5]. Five of the traditional big six have a manager who was not in charge a year ago [5]. Exactly one current Premier League manager has won the competition before [6]. Pep Guardiola left Manchester City this summer, and Liverpool sacked Arne Slot a year after he won the title [6].

So the evidence for this season is zero matches. The verdicts are already out. The Athletic has published a full predicted final table [5]. ESPN has run a team-by-team preview and a ranking of the top 50 players [6]. Its FC 100 list ranks the best players in the world by position [7].

The most precise example is American. ESPN’s Future Power Rankings score all 32 NFL teams from 0 to 100 for the 2027 to 2029 seasons [8]. Four analysts rate each club’s quarterback, roster, front office and coaching, and the four scores are weighted at 20%, 30%, 25% and 25% [8]. That is a two-decimal machine pointed three years into the future.

ESPN’s own training-camp awards writer said the quiet part out loud. Camp, he wrote, is “a time to be superlative in our estimation of players and teams. Everyone is deserving of all the awards; every team will win every division” [9].

Bezos takes almost 40% of Liverpool, and Chelsea’s owners head for the exit

Fenway Sports Group confirmed on Friday a “definitive agreement” to sell a “strategic minority investment” in Liverpool to a consortium called 1892 Holdings [11][12]. Early accounts on both sides put the stake at roughly 30% to a third [12]. The Athletic then reported the real figure is about 38%, and the BBC followed [10][11]. Both counts describe the same deal; the first was the initial description, the second is what sources say the paperwork holds.

The consortium is led by Amit Bhatia, the former Queens Park Rangers co-owner, who becomes Liverpool’s vice-chairman [11][12]. It includes Jeff Bezos through the K5 Sports fund, the family office of Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, and the Mittal Family Trusts [11][12]. Bezos will not take a board seat [12]. The agreement carries an option, explicitly not a commitment, for the group to buy a controlling stake within 12 months [10][12]. The deal is understood to value Liverpool between 5bn and 6bn pounds [11].

At Chelsea the traffic runs the other way. Chairman Todd Boehly and director Mark Walter are in talks to sell their shares to majority owner Clearlake Capital [13][14]. Clearlake holds 61.5% and is led by Behdad Eghbali and Jose E. Feliciano [14]. Boehly and Walter each hold 12.8% [14]. The club is reported to be valued at 5bn pounds, which would give each of them about 640m pounds [14]. Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss owns a further 12.8% and his position is unclear [14].

The timing is hard to separate from Walter’s week. He sold the Los Angeles Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger at a $12.5bn valuation [13]. That was 14 months after he bought control at a then-record $10bn [13]. US federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating companies in his business empire [14][15].

One name links both stories. MLB owners on Monday unanimously approved Clearlake’s Feliciano and his wife Kwanza Jones as majority owners of the San Diego Padres [14][16]. The valuation, $3.9bn, is a record for the sport [16].

The money underneath

The NBA’s first season under its new television contracts produced $2.11bn in in-game advertising, up 38% on the previous $1.53bn [17]. The count comes from the measurement firm Guideline [17]. The 11-year, $76bn deal with ABC/ESPN, NBC and Amazon’s Prime Video moved games off cable [17]. Sixty-two regular-season games aired on broadcast television last season, against 24 the year before [17]. This coming season it will be 71 [17].

Premier League clubs have spent 2.14bn pounds this summer with more than two weeks left, according to figures FootballTransfers.com gave the BBC [18]. Serie A is on 780m pounds, La Liga 515m, the Bundesliga 505m and Ligue 1 412m [18]. Those four roughly match the Premier League between them. Chelsea lead on 348m pounds, Tottenham on 228m, Arsenal and Manchester City on 151m each [18]. Chelsea set a Friday deadline for bids of 120m pounds for Enzo Fernandez, received none, and now expect him to stay [19]. City do not regard it as finished [19].

Below the top flight the same pressure shows. Relegated West Ham paid 22m pounds for Arne Engels from Celtic, in what the club called a record fee by a Championship club [20]. It beats the 17.5m Ipswich paid a year ago [20]. Sheffield United’s owners face a High Court winding-up petition [21]. More than 35m pounds is still owed on a purchase of just over 100m, and a 12-point deduction is possible [21].

Two rule changes land quietly this week. Premier League clubs now face fines of up to 100,000 pounds for failing mandatory cybersecurity requirements, covering backups, incident response and risk management [22]. And injured players must now leave the pitch for at least a minute rather than 30 seconds, an international rule change [23]. The 30-second version cut on-pitch treatments by 70% last season [23].

The bills the public still argues over

San Antonio’s city council voted 6-5 on Monday to reject a public vote on the city’s $489m contribution to a $1.3bn Spurs arena [24]. Bexar County voters had already approved $311m in hotel and car-rental taxes last November, with 52.1% in favour [24]. The city’s share now proceeds without a ballot.

Two smaller items show where sport’s money is moving. Baller League, the six-a-side competition fronted by Chloe Kelly and KSI, has lost its Sky Sports deal and goes online only [25]. Chief executive Felix Starck said Sky was “always framed as an add-on” and claimed more than 90% of the audience already watches online [25]. He put season three at about 12m YouTube livestreams, against 9.1m for season two [25].

A term sheet obtained through a public records request shows what Players Era will pay the University of Kansas [26]. At least $3.1m, for three games at its Las Vegas tournament in November [26]. That is $2.75m in name-and-likeness money, a $200,000 travel stipend and $150,000 for lodging and meals [26]. Kansas also gets 150 free tickets and the right to buy more to resell, minus a 20% commission [26].