Not getting away: Seahawks re-signing Drake Thomas, with confirmed deal details
Drake Thomas had a huge smile. He was smoking a cigar.
He was inside the visiting locker room Jan. 3, in Santa Clara, California. Thomas had just secured the Seahawks’ NFC West championship, top conference playoff seed and most direct path to the Super Bowl with an interception near his own goal line. That sealed Seattle’s 13-3 win at San Francisco in week 18.
“Never have. Never have smoked a cigar before,” Thomas said, with a deadpan look.
Now, after winning the Super Bowl last month in that same Bay Area stadium, Thomas has reasons to smoke more cigars.
Maybe eight million of them.
The self-made starter who impressed Mike Macdonald so much last summer in training camp the coach made him a new Seahawks starting linebacker has agreed to sign a two-year contract to remain with the Super Bowl champions. Thomas’ agent Jay Courie confirmed to The News Tribune Thursday afternoon the deal for the starting weakside linebacker is for $8 million and could with bonuses get to $9 million.
Courie said the new contract for Thomas, who turned 26 last week, includes a signing bonus of $1.5 million.
That’s not too shabby for a supposedly too-small former Las Vegas Raiders practice squad player.
Thomas went undrafted out of North Carolina State in 2023. The Seahawks claimed him off waivers at the end of the 2023 preseason. Thomas had been a restricted free agent. He could have become an unrestricted free agent able to sign with any team beginning Monday.
The team’s agreement with Thomas keeps him and Ernest Jones as Seattle’s inside linebackers for the 2026 season.
It also stems a flow of news this week that the Seahawks appear likely to be losing Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker and Pro Bowl kick returner plus wide receiver Rashid Shaheed, and possibly cornerback Riq Woolen and others, to free agency next week.
The 5-foot-11, 228-pound Thomas began impressing then-coach Pete Carroll and the Seahawks on special teams, before an injury ended his ‘23 season. He excelled on Seattle’s special teams for Macdonald and new special-teams coach Jay Harbaugh in 2024.
By training camp last summer, Thomas was performing too well, too consistently, to keep only on special teams. Macdonald moved him past 2024 rookie starter Tyrice Knight as the starting weakside inside linebacker next to stalwart Ernest Jones in the middle of Seattle’s defense.
“You’ve seen what Drake is doing out there,” Macdonald said during this past season. “Hard to take him off the field.”
With Thomas starting next to Jones, the Seahawks defense became the NFL’s top-ranked unit, leading the Seahawks to their second Super Bowl title.
“Drake’s a baller man,” Jones said during last season.
“Proud of him.”
This story was originally published March 5, 2026 at 2:20 PM.
