It would almost be insulting to call what Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba is doing this year a breakout. No, he’s blasted off. He’s ascended to a higher football plane. The third-year pro has transformed into one of the best all-around playmakers in the game and built a burgeoning MVP case with absurd pass catching numbers through the season’s first 10 weeks. Smith-Njigba’s doing something that few saw coming heading into this season or even thought possible when he was a first-round pick in 2023. And if you haven’t been paying attention to Seattle’s offense this year, now’s a good time to get caught up on what could go down as one of the all-time best receiver seasons in NFL history.
Let’s start with just the basic counting stats. With nine games in the books, Smith-Njigba has caught 63 passes and scored five touchdowns while racking up a league-best 1,041 receiving yards—putting him in rare company alongside All-Pro peers like Tyreek Hill, who had 1,076 yards through nine games in 2023, and Justin Jefferson, who had 1,060 yards in 2022. Smith-Njigba’s a full 210 yards ahead of Cincinnati’s Ja'Marr Chase, the no. 2 player on the receiving yards list, which is the largest difference between the top two players in that metric through Week 10 since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. (This is a good visual for the enormity of that delta.) At 115.7 receiving yards per game, Smith-Njigba is on pace for 1,967 yards this season—which would just edge out Calvin Johnson for the NFL’s single-season receiving record of 1,964 yards, set in 2012 (albeit in 16 games).
In short, Smith-Njigba’s doing historic stuff, and it’s all that much more impressive when you consider he’s doing it on a Seahawks team that ranks dead last in the league in both pass rate (47 percent) and pass attempts per game (25.8). Yeah! It’s wild!
Thanks to what seems to be an immediate mind-meld connection with quarterback Sam Darnold (who’s been incredible in his own right), Smith-Njigba has emerged as a god-level go-to guy in the Seahawks offense this year. No receiver demands the ball at a higher clip than JSN, who leads the league with a 38.8 percent target rate (that’s pacing for second of all time, just shy of Brandon Marshall’s 40.1 percent target rate in 2012). If you really want your mind blown, get a load of his per-pass and per-route efficiency stats. Smith-Njigba is averaging 4.49 yards per team pass attempt. According to Fantasy Points Data, no receiver since at least 1966 has averaged more than 3.48 yards in that metric. And going back to 2013 (the earliest that TruMedia has reliable route tracking data), JSN leads all receivers (with a minimum of 100 routes) in yards per route run, with an average of 4.67. That’s a completely outrageous number. Anything over 2.0 yards per route run is considered good; there have been just 12 receivers who have finished a season with over 3.0 yards per route run in the past 12 years. In Cooper Kupp’s historic 2021 campaign (in which he racked up 1,947 yards, second most in a single season, and won the receiving triple crown), he averaged 3.12 yards per route run. Hill averaged 3.85 yards per route run while totaling 1,710 receiving yards in 2023. JSN’s blowing those numbers out of the water. And he's somehow getting even more efficient as the year goes along.
We saw that in Seattle's 44-22 win over Arizona last weekend. The Seahawks got more big plays from Smith-Njigba in the first quarter—four catches for 82 yards and a touchdown—than many good receivers have in an entire game. The team jumped out to a 35-0 lead in the first half before putting its offense on cruise control. Darnold dropped back to throw just twice over the final two quarters. JSN finished the game averaging a ridiculous 8.5 yards per route. Nice day at the office.
That’s been the story for the shockingly efficient Seahawks offense for most of the year. That unit has, alongside a top-tier defense, helped carry the Seahawks to a 7-2 record as they head into a massive divisional grudge match against the Rams on Sunday. There are plenty of reasons that Seattle’s offense ranks first in success rate (53.1 percent), third in points per game (30.6), and fourth in offensive DVOA. Darnold has been nails all season long and has proved to be one of the best free agent signings in the league this year. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak has been one of the smartest hires, too—and he’s designed a scheme that maximizes Darnold’s skill set and gives his quarterback opportunities to show off his strong arm and deep-ball accuracy. But Smith-Njigba’s ascension to superstardom, and his emergence as a real, field-tilting no. 1 receiver, has unlocked an entirely new level for this offense.
The degree of total mastery we’ve seen Smith-Njigba put on tape this year might surprise those who evaluated him coming out of Ohio State in 2023, and it might even surprise the team that drafted him. There were questions in the run-up to the draft about whether he was big enough, strong enough, and fast enough to be a true outside receiver at the next level. Some scouts and evaluators (including me) wondered whether he had the skill set to emerge as a legit no. 1. And in his rookie season, the Seahawks sort of projected those doubts, choosing to ease him into their offense by primarily bringing him in to catch screen passes or quick throws near the line of scrimmage. He finished the 2023 season with 63 catches for 628 yards and four touchdowns but averaged a pathetic 6.1 air yards per target—which ranked 87th out of 92 receivers with 25-plus catches that year, per TruMedia. That bizarre and frustrating deployment was probably a big part of what prompted JSN’s now-infamous response to a question about what Bears fans could expect after Chicago hired Seattle’s former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron in 2024.
In JSN’s second season, his role definitely expanded under new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, as did his average air yards per target (8.7). He broke out to lead the Hawks with 100 catches for 1,130 yards and six touchdowns. But even then, JSN was primarily lined up in the slot, where he ran 74 percent of his routes. Grubb was fired after one season, so Smith-Njigba faced the specter of playing for his third offensive coordinator in three years, and questions remained over the offseason—especially after the Seahawks traded away DK Metcalf—as to whether the 6-foot, 197-pound Smith-Njigba was big enough or explosive enough to operate as a true no. 1. Was he the type of receiver who could line up anywhere and win his matchups?
Watching Smith-Njigba run routes this year, it’s clear the answer is “yes.” He’s elevated every part of his game to become an all-around receiver, with very few weaknesses. JSN has been winning on all three levels, on basically every route concept, and from everywhere on the field—whether that’s outside, in the slot, or even from the backfield. Yahoo’s Nate Tice lays all of that out here:
In fact, in offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak’s new-look scheme this season, Smith-Njigba has run 81 percent of his routes from the outside—as dramatic a role shift as any receiver has seen this year. And he hasn’t just been good from the outside; he’s been incredible. Among the 85 receivers with 150-plus routes run this season, he ranks first in Fantasy Points’ separation score (0.22), first in route win rate (25.1 percent), and first in yards per route run (5.23) when deployed on the outside. Turns out he can route dudes up just fine from anywhere on the field.
Smith-Njigba’s also been one of the most dangerous deep-ball receivers in the league. JSN leads the NFL in receptions of 20-plus air yards (12), per PFF, and in deep-ball yards (454), with two scores on those plays. He’s won a league-high five of seven contested catch opportunities deep down the field. And Darnold’s NFL passer rating when targeting Smith-Njigba on passes of 20-plus yards is a nearly perfect 156.3.
Looking past those incredible numbers, it’s also worth pointing out that he is one of the most aesthetically pleasing pass catchers in the NFL. Smith-Njigba doesn’t look or play like some of the archetypal no. 1 receivers. He doesn't dominate with size like Mike Evans, Davante Adams, or DeAndre Hopkins. He doesn’t blow you away with explosive, runaway speed like Hill, Chase, or Metcalf. But he wins with a rare combination of fluidity, balance, and grace on the football field. He’s quick as a hiccup when getting into his route, showing the ability to juke and cut to discard coverage in a way we haven’t seen from a Seahawk since Doug Baldwin.
He’s silky smooth as a route runner and knows how to separate both early and late in his route. He brings the innate body control and staccato footwork to jump up to catch the ball, pirouette, land, and keep rolling downfield without even breaking stride. He tracks the ball beautifully. He has sticky, nearly automatic hands.
Smith-Njigba is doing it all. And he’s actively setting a new bar for what seems possible at the wide receiver position.
