RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Derick Hall had no interest in testing the open market.
The dynamic young linebacker, who helped the Seattle Seahawks win the Super Bowl last season, signed a $42 million, three-year contract extension on Wednesday that he agreed to a day earlier.
Although he is entering the final year of his rookie deal, Hall has so thoroughly enjoyed his time in Seattle that he opted to forgo free agency. He wants to compete for Super Bowls, which he thinks should be the case for years to come.
“I know we’re going to win a lot of games and a lot of championships here,” the 25-year-old Hall said. “So, I’m willing to sacrifice whatever everybody else thought I’d be willing to make to be here and with this team.”
The 37th overall pick of the 2023 draft earned his big payday. Hall had a key strip-sack in Seattle's 29-13 win over New England in the Super Bowl.
For Hall to even make it to the NFL was an impressive accomplishment. The 6-foot-3, 254-pounder was born four months premature in Gulfport, Mississippi, and was pronounced dead at birth before being resuscitated.
His mother, Stacy Gooden-Crandle, refused to let life support be discontinued for her son. Gooden-Crandle traveled from Gulfport to Seattle to join Hall for the signing.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s unimaginable,” Hall said. “And, just continue to show up, man, no matter where you started or where you come from. There’s always hope.”
Hall is a locker room favorite known for good-natured ribbing of teammates — “I’m going to talk my junk, they’re going to talk back,” he said — but he hopes to expand his leadership role.
He has 10 sacks and 105 tackles across his first three seasons and believes he's capable of much greater production.
“There’s so much more for me, and I know there’s so much greater heights that I can go to in my game,” Hall said. “It’s just continuing to work towards that every single day.”
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FILE - Seattle Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall (58) celebrates after sacking New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye during the first half of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, killing two men, as the Trump administration wages a monthslong campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America.
The latest attack brings the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 207 since the administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September.
As with most of the military’s statements on strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command said it targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs. A video posted on X showed a boat speeding through the water before bursting into flames.
President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”
Critics have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the U.S. over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.
The strikes have drawn intense scrutiny from some Democratic lawmakers and military legal scholars. The U.S. military’s first strike in early September drew particular concern from some lawmakers and those who study military law.
Two men on the boat initially survived the attack that killed nine others, and they were clinging to the wreckage when the vessel was struck again, killing them. The White House confirmed the follow-up strike, insisting it was done “in self-defense” to ensure the boat was destroyed and in accordance with the laws of armed conflict. But some legal scholars said a second strike killing survivors would have been illegal under any circumstance, armed conflict or not.
The Pentagon’s watchdog said in May that it plans to look into whether the U.S. military followed an established targeting framework when carrying out the strikes. However, the evaluation is focused specifically on what’s known as the six-phase Joint Targeting Cycle and not on the legality of the strikes, the inspector general’s office said.
FILE - The Pentagon is viewed from the window of an airplane Aug. 27, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
