Jaxon Smith-Njigba of the Seattle Seahawks just became a very rich person. He was already relatively wealthy, but nothing compared to how much he will get paid by the team now that the player and the franchise have agreed to a new extension.
According to NFL insider Adam Schefter, Smith-Njigba will add four years to his current deal that will pay him as much as $168.6 million. That amount makes him the highest-paid receiver in the history of the NFL. The average yearly salary will be $42.15 million a season.
The good part is that his cap hit won't be that much every season as the team will spread the amount over six seasons, presumably. JSN has one year left on his rookie deal, the team picked up his fifth-year option for 2027, and one can assume that the extension will go into place in 2028 and keep the wide receiver in Seattle through 2031.
Seattle Seahawks sign Jaxon Smith-Njigba to massive extension
That is why the new extension can be spread over six seasons, thereby lowering JSN's cap hit. The hit will still be enormous, but manageable. This is especially true as the cap keeps going up every season.
The previously highest-paid wideout was Ja'Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals, who was making $40.25 million a season. In other words, JSN has reset the wide receiver market, and his deal is going to force the Los Angeles Rams to pay Puka Nacua an extremely high amount as well.
The assumption would be that Los Angeles will pay Nacua more than the Seahawks are paying Jaxon Smith-Njigba because the NFC West is an arms race, both from the standpoint of getting better and from keeping players on each team's current roster happy.
Two obvious losers exist because of the Smith-Njigba deal. One is former Seattle receiver DK Metcalf, who missed out on winning a Super Bowl because he wanted more money than the Seahawks wanted to give him, and the team only wanted to pay players who weren't so mercurial in their attitude on the field and toward the team.
The other is former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who managed to underuse (or not know how to use) JSN in his rookie season of 2023. Waldron looks more foolish for what Smith-Njigba has accomplished since he left (including leading the league in receiving yards in 2025), and might have been the only person in the league who could slow the wide receiver down.