The Seattle Seahawks are reportedly keeping their top offensive lineman around for more than just the upcoming season.

Seattle Seahawks Draft Reaction: Is change coming to TE room after 2nd-round pick?

The Seahawks are exercising the fifth-year option for left tackle Charles Cross, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport reported on social media Monday.

The option keeps Cross in Seattle through 2026, when he’ll make a fully guaranteed $17.56 million. The team had until May 2 to make a decision on the option. Cross would have become a free agent after 2025 if it had not been picked up.

Cross is making $1.1 million with $6.8 million cap hit in 2024, the final year of his initial rookie deal.

Players picked in the first round of the NFL Draft are eligible for fifth-year options, which was introduced in 2011. Cross is set to be the first draft pick the Seahawks have picked up a fifth-year option on since it was introduced.

The No. 9 overall pick in 2022, Cross has been one of the few bright spots in the trenches since arriving in the Pacific Northwest. He’s played and started in all but three games over the three seasons.

Cross has shown improvement each season, according to Pro Football Focus grading. The Mississippi State product ranked 70th among tackles as a rookie in 2022, 47th in 2023 and jumped up to ninth in 2024. He graded out as the 15th-best pass blocker and 16th-best run blocker last season, per PFF. Cross also ranked 16th in ESPN’s pass-block win-rate metric at 92%. In 1,094 snaps played last season, he committed eight penalties and allowed six sacks.

After the departure of 2024 starting left guard Laken Tomlinson in free agency, Cross is set to have a new partner on the left side of the O-line this fall. That could be end up being Grey Zabel, who the Seahawks picked in the first round at No. 18 overall on Thursday during the 2025 NFL Draft.

The Seahawks will have two players to make fifth-year option decisions on next offseason when cornerback Devon Witherspoon and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba become eligible.

More on the Seattle Seahawks and NFL Draft

• Rapid Fire on Seahawks Draft: Best pick, highest upside and more
• Why Big Ray is big fan of Seattle Seahawks’ top pick Grey Zabel
• Brock: Seahawks had ‘one of the best’ drafts
• See the Seattle Seahawks’ 2025 UDFA additions
• Rost: Seahawks’ exciting draft picks have one thing in common