Something unusual happened on the Seattle Seahawks' first drive against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. Jaxon Smith-Njigba did not touch the ball. Sam Darnold threw several times to his emerging second option, A.J. Barner. He handed the ball to new wide receiver Rashid Shaheed. But his top target, Smith-Njigba, was quiet.
It did not stay that way for long.
As if making amends, Klint Kubiak called on JSN for the first play of the second drive. He got the ball on a nice little counter sweep for four yards. Two plays later, he called on his top receiver again. This time, it was a more typical JSN-2025 play.
On third and six from their own 37, Darnold got time, launched a beautiful deep throw down the left sideline, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba tracked it perfectly, made the catch, and scored his sixth touchdown of the year.
Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba is showing no sings of slowing down
What had been simply an amazing season for Smith-Njigba turned into a record-breaking one before the day was done. When he caught an 8-yard turn-in in the third quarter, JSN surpassed D.K. Metcalf for the most receiving yards in a season in Seahawks’ history. Metcalf piled up 1,303 yards back in 2020. It took him 16 games.
JSN broke the record in just 11 games this year.
A few minutes before the record-breaker, Darnold hit his favorite target on another thing of beauty. Another deep throw down the right sideline. And JSN again tracked a deep ball perfectly and beat pretty good coverage by Kevin Winston. Winston was able to wrestle him out of bounds before JSN got to the end zone.
So, after a Kevin Walker run, JSN ran another picture-perfect route, pressing outside, before snapping it off to the inside, where he caught his seventh touchdown of the year.
In his first two seasons, the Ohio State grad clearly established himself as a first-rate possession receiver running primarily out of the slot. There were questions in the preseason about whether he could make the transition to the outside and replace the big plays of past standouts like Metcalf and Tyler Lockett.
How’s this for an answer?
The Titans game was the eighth time JSN has gone for more than 100 yards on the day. (he missed in the other three games by a grand total of 32 yards.) He remains on pace to break Calvin Johnson’s single-season yardage record.
He is currently on track to become the first player ever to surpass 2,000 yards in a single season. He is dwarfing the totals of a number of other stand-out receivers in an era that places maximum emphasis on passing.
I’ve mentioned this before, but when a player is doing what JSN is doing in 2025, you are going to have to repeat yourself. The most remarkable thing about his season thus far is that he has cranked up his yards-per-catch without sacrificing a very efficient completion percentage.
So not only does he lead the league in yards. Not only does he lead the league in big plays. He is somehow managing to be in the top five in terms of yards-per-catch and in the top ten in catch percentage amongst all receivers with at least 500 receiving yards. That simply doesn’t happen. A receiver either catches a lot of short passes or somewhat fewer long ones.
Unless your name is Jaxon Smith-Njigba and you are in the midst of all-time great season.