It was announced Wednesday that Trufant signed a six-year, $50.2 million contract to stay with the Seattle Seahawks.

On Saturday, he will get married.

The Tacoma native and Washington State University product had been designated the Seahawks’ franchise player in February, but the team and his representatives continued working on a long-term deal. This extension locks him up through 2013, with an estimated $28 million of the contract essentially guaranteed.

Trufant, a cornerback, was the second defensive standout to receive a long-term contract in the past week. The Seahawks extended three-time Pro Bowl linebacker Lofa Tatupu until 2015.

“Like Lofa, he’s a cornerstone of our defense and our football team,” general manager Tim Ruskell said. “We’ve kind of solidified that group for many years to come.”

Trufant was a first-round pick (11th selection overall) in 2003, and 2007 was his first Pro Bowl season.

“It’s a very exciting time for me and my family and it’s a great opportunity,” Trufant said at a news conference at the team’s headquarters. “Coach (Mike Holmgren) talked about me being a Seahawk for life and that’s one of the things that’s been a dream of mine. Now that it’s coming true I just have to make the best of it, enjoy it, and go out and win ballgames.”

Holmgren said he had visited with Trufant last season, telling him that he felt he was meant to stay with the Seahawks.

“He means so much to the city; he’s a product of this area,” Holmgren said. “It just made too much sense.”

Had the Seahawks managed to work out the agreement earlier, they might have been able to save the franchise tag and apply it for a second season to kicker Josh Brown, who was lost to St. Louis as a free agent.

Ruskell characterized the final negotiations on the Trufant deal as a matter of “talking about the middle ground.”

The signing doesn’t have an impact on the team’s salary-cap situation. Ruskell said the Seahawks have reserved salary space for signing rookies, for landing a kicker to replace Brown, and for “injury insurance” to bring on players as attrition strikes during the season.

Without cuts or further restructuring of veterans’ contracts, as happened to accommodate the Tatupu contract, the Seahawks are almost to their limit, Ruskell said.

Getting the Tatupu and Trufant deals out of the way, Ruskell said, helps the team avoid a “bottleneck” of free agents needing to be re-signed at the end of the coming season. Linebacker Leroy Hill and defensive linemen Marcus Tubbs and Rocky Bernard are the highest-profile players due to become free agents after 2008.

Aside from the security and the financial wherewithal to take fiancée Jessica Rankin, of Renton, on a nice honeymoon, Trufant said that his new contract will benefit the Trufant Family Foundation, his charitable organization.

“The foundation has been something that my family and I have been very involved with in the community, and the foundation will benefit,” Trufant said. “First off, I’ll be here in town, so I’ll be able to be at all the functions, be at my bowling tournaments. ... I’ll be close to my mom and my dad, and I’ll be able to work with them as they go out into the community.

“I think that’s the main thing – that I’m here in Seattle, so I’ll have that close base, that relationship with the foundation.”

Dave Boling: 253-597-8440