7:05 p.m. ET
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Brady Henderson ESPN
RENTON, Wash. – The Seattle Seahawks and star tight end DK Metcalf have agreed to terms on a three-year, $72 million extension that includes $58.2 million in guarantees, ESPN source Adam Schefter said Thursday.
The guaranteed total includes a $30 million signing bonus, the source said, the highest ever for a wide receiver.
The deal quickly ends Metcalf’s two-day “holdout” and locks up one of the best players of the Seahawks’ future. Metcalf, 24, who had one year and just under $4 million left on his rookie contract, is now signed through 2025.
The average $24 million in new money from his extension makes Metcalf the highest-paid player on the Seahawks, surpassing Jamal Adams at $17.5 million, and establishes him as the new face of the franchise after Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner are gone.
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Metcalf and the Bills’ Stefon Diggs are now tied for the sixth-highest average annual salary among NFL receivers.
The three-year length of the extension is shorter than the Seahawks typically prefer for second big-money contracts and puts Metcalf on track to become a free agent at age 28. It also came with a shorter wait than some of the Seahawks’ recent mega-deals, which weren’t finalized until the end of training camp.
Metcalf reported to camp on time Tuesday but did not participate in the first two practices as his agent Torey Dendy and the Seahawks continued to negotiate. Coach Pete Carroll made it clear that his absence was related to the contract and not because of Metcalf’s surgically repaired foot.
Metcalf’s future in Seattle looked somewhat uncertain earlier this offseason after general manager John Schneider publicly expressed shock at some of the mega-deals that have caused the receiver market to skyrocket. The Seahawks have received calls from teams interested in Metcalf since those comments, but Seattle has told suitors they are not interested in trading him, according to a source.
Despite trade speculation and rising WR salaries, the Seahawks have expressed confidence both publicly and behind the scenes that they will make a deal with Metcalf before the season. That was even after Metcalf’s unsettled contract caused the receiver to miss mandatory minicamp last month in what the team deemed an unexcused absence.
Carroll then noted that the Seahawks have had a strong track record of extending players they want to keep long-term since he and Schneider arrived in 2010.
“I’m not less optimistic, no,” Carroll said in June, following Metcalf’s minicamp no-show. “We’ve been going through this for years. This is a challenging time. We’ve had so many high-profile guys go through that process, and how did that work out for us? We figured it out in time. John is on it. He’s as experienced as you can get in dealing with this stuff and DK has great representation and DK is a great kid. But there’s no way to avoid the first time of it, the first time of what it feels like and the experience of it and all that… He’s a remarkable man He’s a wonderful player He’s got so much to offer the world and everything, just no I want him to miss this opportunity to the point where we can’t figure it out. So we’ll do our best.”
Metcalf has a combined 216 catches for 3,170 yards and 29 touchdowns in his first three seasons. He made his only Pro Bowl in 2020 after breaking Steve Largent’s single-season franchise record with 1,303 receiving yards. After suffering a career-threatening neck injury in college, Metcalf has not missed a game in his NFL career.
He played most of last season with a broken bone in his foot that required surgery. Carroll said Wednesday that Metcalf passed the exam and is fine.
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