A new ESPN survey of dozens of NFL coaches and execs puts Devon Witherspoon fourth among all current cornerbacks in the league.

Some oddly think this survey will make it tougher for the Seahawks to extend Witherspoon before the season, but let’s be clear: John Schneider and lead contract guy Joey Laine already are prepared to pay top dollar for Mike Macdonald’s favorite defender. They know he is a top-five corner, and there is no reason to think this survey changes anything in regard to contract talks.

Patriots star Christian Gonzalez was ranked one spot above Witherspoon, and those two will end up 1-2 or 2-1 in cornerback pay this summer – ahead of Trent McDuffie, who ranked fifth in the corner survey but is No. 1 in average annual salary at $31 million.

Witherspoon figures to be paid top dollar for his position because, as one coordinator told ESPN, he is “outstanding in the slot, can play on the perimeter, violent, physical and impacts games (in ways) that don’t show up in (the) stat sheet. And he’s so twitched up as an athlete.”

A personnel evaluator said, “He’s just a really good football player — I don’t care that he’s not a traditional outside corner. He’s the ultimate tone-setter.”

A couple of weeks ago, Brady Henderson reported that negotiations with Witherspoon’s agents “haven’t gone as smoothly” as Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s talks went earlier this year. Seattle apparently made an initial offer back in March.

Among the possible holdups: (1) Spoon might be looking for a market reset, trying to leap up to $35 million a year or more; (2) he might be trying to get more full guarantees (Seattle goes only two years out on those); or (3) it might just be the “game of chicken” with Gonzo, who happens to have the same agency.

Witherspoon is tied to the Seahawks via his option bonus through 2027, so they could just table talks until next year as well. But all indications are this deal likely will get done before the season.

“That agency that’s representing both Witherspoon and Gonzalez is thinking that they’re gonna get Witherspoon done first, and there’s two reasons why,” Albert Breer told NBC Sports Boston in mid-June. “One, Seattle’s been way more aggressive with signing guys, and we’ve seen what they did with Jaxon Smith-Njigba, so they’ve got history of it. The second thing is Seattle’s for sale, and the Seahawks’ ownership is gonna change here probably in the next two or three months.

“And so, if you’re the football people there, you kind of want to have that taken care of, because you don’t know how the rules of engagement might change with a new owner coming in. There’s going to be some urgency on both sides to get something done there.”

Here’s a rough draft of a deal that would pay Spoon almost $35 million a year in new money (over four years) and $160 million over six years total, guaranteeing almost $58 million in 2026 and 2027.