Nissan Stadium (Nashville) – Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s historic season reached another peak in Nashville on Sunday. But in many ways, it was just more of the same.
Seattle’s star receiver earned his latest game ball. Latest is a key word, because Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald couldn’t tell you how many Smith-Njigba has received.
“Probably not enough,” Macdonald said. “Honestly, he probably could get one every game.”
In his latest masterpiece, Smith-Njigba caught eight passes for a season-high 167 yards in Seattle’s 30-24 victory over Tennessee, breaking the single-season franchise record for receiving yards in the process. Just 11 games into Seattle’s season, the third-year pro is already at 1,313 yards. The previous Seahawks’ record was set in 2020, when DK Metcalf had 1,303 yards.
Smith-Njigba, who’s on pace for an NFL-record 2,029 receiving yards, admitted that he was aware that he was closing in on Metcalf’s record and that it “means a lot.”
“Great receivers have come through here,” Smith-Njigba said. “Honestly, I look at it as a team award quite honestly, because without Sam [Darnold] and without the protection, without Sheed [Rashid Shaheed] and Coop [Cooper Kupp], this doesn’t happen. So, I’m grateful and thankful and blessed for my team.”
Smith-Njigba didn’t have a target in the first quarter Sunday, but he exploded with 80-plus receiving yards in both the second and the third periods.
He scored his first of two touchdowns on his first target of the game, which came early in the second quarter. After motioning into the slot, the former Ohio State star had a favorable one-on-one matchup with safety Amani Hooker, whom he beat on a corner route for the 63-yard touchdown.
In the third quarter, Smith-Njigba had another explosive play — a 56-yarder — where he faced man coverage from rookie safety Kevin Winston Jr. It set up the star receiver’s 13-yard touchdown two plays later, which extended Seattle’s lead to 23-3.
Macdonald and several teammates referenced Smith-Njigba’s impressive ball control, which Darnold referenced as “second to none,” as pivotal to his success.
“Those deep balls down the field, especially ones that aren’t in stride, it’s incredibly hard to play [as a defender],” Macdonald explained. “You’re running full speed. … At some point when you’re in phase, you have to go play the ball, and that’s really the only chance you have because otherwise you’re going to get called for a penalty. It does show you his body control is really just next level.”
Smith-Njigba has supreme confidence in those situations.
“I would say I have better ball-tracking skills than a lot of DBs and I can kind of feel their tenseness and freaking out when the ball is in the air,” he said. “So, just staying relaxed, staying calm.”
Smith-Njigba now has at least 100 receiving yards in all but three games this season, and at least 90 in all but one. His elite, consistent production is all the more impressive considering he doesn’t get much help in the pass game. No other Seattle receiver has reached 500 yards; the closest is Kupp, who, with 414 receiving yards, has 899 fewer than JSN.
Smith-Njigba’s connection with Darnold is the engine behind the Seahawks’ offense, which ranked third in scoring entering Sunday. The former first-round pick is just the third player in NFL history with at least 75 receiving yards in 11 straight games, joining Marvin Harrison (2002) and Kupp (2021), according to FOX Sports Research.
In the mix for Offensive Player of the Year, Smith-Njigba has been so dominant that he’s at least worthy of eyeballs in the MVP race. A wide receiver has never won the award but has received MVP votes 21 times since the 1970 merger, including 14 different players, per FOX Sports Research. A receiver has finished as high as second in voting four times, including Jerry Rice twice (1987, 1995), and once by Otis Taylor (1971) and Harold Jackson (1973).
Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon, who was in Smith-Njigba’s draft class, remembers when NFL observers were down on his teammate after a disappointing rookie year, when he had just 63 receptions for 628 yards and four touchdowns.
Two years later, he’s arguably the best receiver in football.
“He’s just doing his thing right now,” Witherspoon said.
Ben Arthur is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.
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