Inside The Huskies

Gordon Third Husky DB to Cash In On Rich NFL Extension in 2025

The deal makes the former UW defensive back the highest-paid slot defender in pro football.

Dan Raley

Chicago Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon, the ex-Husky. leaves the field in London.
Chicago Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon, the ex-Husky. leaves the field in London. / Peter van den Berg-Imagn Images

Would the last former University of Washington defensive back leaving the bank, please turn off the lights?

On Sunday, slot cornerback Kyler Gordon became the latest member of the Huskies' collection of extraordinarily talented secondary players to cash in on his skills after reaching agreement on a three-year, $40 million contract extension, as reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter.

In February, cornerback Elijah Molden, even while still recovering from a season-ending broken fibula bone in his leg, received a 3-year $18.2 million extension from the Los Angeles Chargers.

Last month, cornerback Byron Murphy earned the biggest payday of all of these one-time Huskies by accepting a 3-year, $66 million deal with the Minnesota Vikings.

And the Kansas City Chiefs haven't even sat down with cornerback Trent McDuffie yet to run the numbers past him on a healthy extension that should fit in somewhere among these paydays, if not exceed them.

Gordon, Molden and Murphy played together in Montlake in 2018 and the following year McDuffie joined the group while Murphy passed up his final two seasons of Husky eligibility and entered the NFL Draft.

Gordon, 25, was a first-team All-Pac-12 cornerback in 2021, as was McDuffie, even with the Huskies going through a Jimmy Lake meltdown of a season to finish 4-8. The good news back then was the UW also played him at nickelback, which has served him well as a pro.

"I love nickel so much," he said in his final season. "I get to run around and do everything."

Gordom, who hails from Mukilteo, Washington, went to the Chicago Bears as a second-round, pick and the 39th player overall, and became an immediate starter.

He comes off a solid season in which he came up with a career-best 75 tackles along with 5 pass break-ups, 4 tackles for loss, 3 recovered fumbles, a forced fumble and a half sack.

Gordon also has publicly expressed a great love for Chicago, which adds to his franchise appeal.

"I mean, I love Chicago," Gordon said recently. "I love everything about it -- the people, the history, the team, the community."

The money isn't bad either.

His deal makes him the NFL's highest-paid slot corner, with $31.2 million of the money guaranteed.

To get the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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