Seahawks Sign LB K.J. Wright To A Four-Year, $27M Extension

The Seattle Seahawks announced Thursday that they signed LB K.J. Wright to a four-year extension, per Jayson Jenks.

• Ian Rapoport adds that Wright’s new extension is worth $27 million.

Seahawks GM John Schneider and HC Pete Carroll released a statements regarding this move:

In the offseason, we identified K.J. as one of our core players moving forward and aimed to keep him as a part of the Seahawks family for a long time,” said Schneider. “The timing of this signing gives us the ability to keep as many of our core players together as we possibly can. Since Day One, K.J. has been a true professional in his daily approach and we are excited for K.J., his family and the 12s to keep him in the organization.

“K.J. is the epitome of a team guy,” said Carroll. “We are excited to reward a player of his caliber for all the hard work he has put in over the years to become an important piece of our defense.“

Wright, 25, was in the final year of his four-year, $2.526 million rookie contract, which included a base salary of $1.389 million for the 2014 season.

He would have been an unrestricted free agent next March, so this not only keeps him from testing the open market, but also keeps the Seahawks athletic group of linebackers together for at least another year.

This year, Wright has recorded 96 tackles, two sacks, three forced fumbles and a recovery over the course of 14 games. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 12 outside linebacker in a 4-3 defense out of 39 qualifying players.