Illinois product Devon Witherspoon’s contract tops the list of Illini making major pro money

A Yahoo Sports piece framed as a look at the “top three highest-earning Illini in the NBA” used its lead example from the NFL. The report points to former Illinois defensive back Devon Witherspoon signing a four-year, $132 million extension, describing it as the highest-paid cornerback deal in NFL history. That emphasis may be surprising given the NBA topic, but it reflects how Illinois alumni have turned their college careers into big-money roles in professional football as well.

Witherspoon’s status as an Illinois product is central to the story, not the league it is billed under. According to the report, the extension is both long-term and record-setting at the cornerback position, which would carry significant weight in how teams value elite outside coverage and playmaking on the back end of the defense. For Illinois fans, it is another high-profile datapoint in a decade where the program’s pipeline has kept producing impact defenders.

The “top three” framing also raises a practical question for readers: which other Illini the author intended to include, and whether those NBA figures were omitted, deprioritized, or referenced elsewhere. In the material provided, the only specific pro contract detail is Witherspoon’s extension. That makes it difficult to verify the “highest-earning in the NBA” portion of the claim without additional primary confirmation or a fuller list from the original reporting.

Even with that caveat, the broader takeaway is clear. Illinois continues to have former players command substantial salaries in the pros, and the school’s recruiting and development track can show up in unexpected places, from football to basketball and beyond. When a defensive back reaches record-setting compensation, it also tends to reshape expectations for the position across the league, since cornerbacks are frequently evaluated on coverage consistency, tackling reliability, and the ability to handle top receivers.

What to watch next is whether the rest of the “top three” list is fully supported by additional reporting and whether the NBA-related examples are actually Illini players in the league earning the highest totals. If more names and contract figures are published, the comparison will be more meaningful, especially for readers expecting a true NBA-focused accounting.

For now, the most verifiable element in the provided packet is the Witherspoon extension, its size, and its stated positional significance. If you are tracking Illinois alumni in pro sports, this is one of the sharper reminders that the Fighting Illini brand follows players into major-money opportunities, even when a headline promises one league and delivers another.