I'm sure Jackson got a pay increase this year. tOSU was trying to throw money at him earlier.
Personally, I'd rather have Stone than Williams. Nothing against Williams, he is a very good player, but I thought he underperformed a bit last year. Only one sack from a Junior that started all season. Was great against the run, but disappeared too much for my liking. Stone had as many sacks as Williams. Jackson had one more as a true freshman. Halton had 5x as many as Williams.
You lose Stone now, then you lose Williams and Halton to graduation after this year, and all of the sudden it's just Jackson. We need to keep Stone so that we're pairing him and Jackson together in 2026. Can't assume we'll be able to consistently replicate how we landed those guys (Williams was a big Portal grab, Stone a local 5* kid, and Jackson a 3* kid that played with our local 5* kid and has overachieved). I'm a big believer in Bates, but he has to have the talent on hand to mold. We finally have SEC level talent at DT. I'd rather we not start backsliding now.
I really doubt the OU staff lets Stone go because they don't think VERY highly of him. Can't be so stubborn with your pay scale or whatever that you let a talent like Stone walk. It's not his fault he wasn't on the field more last year. He doesn't play Jackson's position, and Williams was/is always going to play a lot because he's getting paid too. Stone easily could have contributed more the last half of the season last year if not in a stacked room. That isn't his fault. And offering him performance bonuses this year when again he's probably going to have to come off the bench, that really isn't fair either, unless those performance bonuses take that into account. Again, I think Stone is probably equally as good as Williams right now. Jackson isn't the comp. Jackson is the big run stuffer at NT.