Understanding Terrion Arnold’s Contract With The Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks have set out on the defense of their Super Bowl title, upending the New England Patriots in a 13-10 come from behind victory to start out the 2026 season victorious.

Up next for Mike Macdonald and crew is a Week 2 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals as the Hawks look for their first road win of the year.

Of course, when the Seahawks and Cardinals face off, one of the more recognizable names added to the Seattle roster during the offseason, Terrion Arnold, will not be in action as he remains on the Commissioner’s Exempt List pending the outcome of the legal case in which he faces a total of eight felony charges. While Arnold will not be on the field for the ‘Hawks until the situation is resolved, player’s placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt List earn their full salary, and we now know how much Arnold is being paid by the Seahawks this season and that amount is:

• $1,075,000 (base salary)

And that’s it, just league minimum base salary for a player with two credited seasons. No incentives, no bonuses, no signing bonus and no guaranteed money at all.

Of course, the big question mark when it comes to Arnold is his availability because it’s entirely possible he might not be able to play this season, but that may be less of a concern than the simple fact of having Arnold under contract.

That is the case for a number of reasons, but what it boils down to is that even though he was a 2024 first round pick who has already played two seasons in the NFL, Arnold is still just 23 years old. Realistically, that means he likely have several years of good football in front of him prior to reaching his prime, and even though his contract is for league minimum, unless they opt to release him, the Seahawks own his rights going forward.

In addition, the calculation for accrued seasons as laid out in Article 8, Section 1 of the CBA is as follows, with the relevant portion bolded for emphasis:

Section 1. Accrued Seasons Calculation:
(a) For the purposes of calculating Accrued Seasons under this Agreement, a player shall receive one Accrued Season for each season during which he was on, or should have been on, full pay status for a total of six or more regular season games (which shall include any games encompassed in any injury settlement, injury grievance settlement or injury grievance award), but which, irrespective of the player’s pay status, shall not include games for which the player was on: (i) the Exempt Commissioner Permission List, (ii) the Reserve PUP List as a result of a nonfootball injury, or (iii) a Club’s Practice Squad.

What this means specifically is that as long as Arnold remains on the Commissioner’s Exempt List, he gets paid but does not earn accrued seasons towards being a free agent. That means that even if his legal situation drags on until the offseason and he never sets foot on the field for the Hawks this year, he would be an exclusive rights free agent in the offseason, and that would allow the Seahawks to bring him back on a league minimum salary for $1,120,000 in 2027.

Alternatively, if Arnold is cleared and comes off the Commissioner’s Exempt List and plays enough this season to earn an accrued season, it would render him a restricted free agent in the offseason. That would afford John Schneider and Mike Macdonald the option to retain his services for 2027 on a restricted free agent tender, and means that even though the contract Arnold signed is a one year deal, it is effectively a two-year deal, with the second year being at the amount of the RFA tender.