Jaxon

Smith-Njigba

Smith-Njigba led the NFL with 1,793 receiving yards en route to Offensive Player of the Year, first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors this season. He turned 24 years old earlier this month and believes he deserves to be the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL. Smith-Njigba’s teammate, and fellow 2023 first-round draftee, Witherspoon also took home Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro honors this year. Witherspoon should end up being handsomely paid as well, though it is unclear whether he is a candidate to reset the positional market. ESPN’s Brady Henderson notes that the Seahawks can exercise a fifth-year option on both contracts by May 1, giving all involved extra time to negotiate long-term deals if need be. Were the Seahawks to make Smith-Njigba the NFL’s highest-paid wide receiver, the contract would average more than $40 million per year in new money.

It was a rare off night for JSN on an evening where almost every other Seahawk was flying around the field and on their A game. It’s a credit to the Patriots, though their only credit in a blowout defeat. JSN also survived a foot issue and concussion evaluation as he posted his second lowest yardage total of the year. Switching quarterbacks, coordinators and offensive philosophies, it was an open question whether JSN could build off his breakout 2024. He ended up posting the eighth most receiving yards in NFL history, with his 1,793 tallies built off the back of stunning consistency. JSN posted fewer than 70 yards only one time all season, and more than 100 nine times. Smith-Njigba was a true inside-out threat, with “just” 27.9 percent of his targets coming out of the slot. Still somehow only 24 years old next week, JSN now heads into the offseason the candidate for a mega extension as he enters the final two years of his rookie deal. This is probably a situation the Seahawks will get out in front of. Regardless of his contract status, JSN is firmly in the mix for No. 1 overall status in 2026 fantasy drafts.

Smith-Njigba put together an extremely impressive stat line in his third NFL season, catching 119-of-163 targets for 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also earned first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors this year after blossoming into a true No. 1 wide receiver.

Smith-Njigba opened with a sensational one-handed catch in what would be a masterpiece game from both the third-year receiver and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. Kubiak schemed Smith-Njigba wide open out of the backfield for his touchdown, and continued to pepper him with short slants against zone and play-action routes late. Smith-Njigba hauled in only one catch in the fourth quarter, but it was an outstanding second-and-10 route that left his defender in the dust and set Seattle up to drain most of the remaining clock. He’ll be priority No. 1 for the New England defense in Super Bowl LX.

It was his worst line of the season by pure yardage, but as in the other game he dudded (23 yards against Max Brosmer’s Vikings), it came in a game the Seahawks choked the life out of early. His touchdown catch was phenomenal, a toe tap near the back of the end zone as Sam Darnold drifted out to his left. Playoff Best Ball drafters will hope the Rams or Bears can put up more of an offensive show against Seattle’s incredible defense in the NFC Championship game.

A floor game for the third-year star. Smith-Njigba managed no red zone targets as the Seahawks played very run-heavy, and his one near-catch out of that area was heavily contested in double coverage. Smith-Njigba will get next week off as the Seahawks await the Wild Card round results as the NFC’s No. 1 seed.

That’s “just” 16.2 PPR points for those scoring at home. Hardly ruinous, but Smith-Njigba failed to single-handedly win finals matchups. JSN divided his production nearly evenly between halves, and just never got a chance to make a big play down the field. That’s how so many weeks were won en route to one of this season’s highest “advance rates.” Still pursuing several statistical milestones as the Seahawks pursue the NFC’s No. 1 seed, Smith-Njigba should be in for a regular week of usage against the 49ers in Week 18.

It was an abysmal first half for JSN, as the wideout was held without a catch on just one target. The second half proved far more fruitful, and then an extra period allowed him to reach 10 touchdowns on a connection with Sam Darnold. Outside of a clunker against Minnesota, Smith-Njigba has been nothing short of dominant, and a couple of big games in Weeks 17 and 18 give him a chance to break the all-time receiving yards record. His next opportunity to pile up the receptions comes against the Panthers in Week 17.

JSN, as usual, dominated targets in the balanced Seahawks offense, and functioned as Sam Darnold’s go-to guy on every big down in a close game against 44-year-old Philip Rivers and the Colts. Incredibly, this was JSN’s ninth game with more than 100 receiving yards. This was only the sixth game of the season in which Smith-Njigba did not score a touchdown. Smith-Njigba will once again be an elite fantasy play in Week 16 against the Rams. He had nine catches for 105 scoreless yards the last time Seattle played the Rams.

Coming off his worst game of the year by far, Seattle made it a point to get JSN going early with six targets on the team’s first two drives. While forcefeeding him looks didn’t results in loads of production, it was a sign of good things to come. JSN came up big in the second quarter by taking a crossing route the distance for nearly 30 yards. He scored again on a scramble drill inside the five during the fourth quarter. While JSN’s fantasy outlook was revealed to be less than bulletproof with just 23 yards in Week 13, he is still on pace for one of the greatest seasons in league history. He will remain atop the WR1 ranks for Week 15 versus the Colts.