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Brady Henderson, ESPN
RENTON, Wash. – Jaxon Smith-Njigba had a familiar feeling about his rookie season with the Seattle Seahawks. It reminded him of his freshman year at Ohio State and Rockwall High School outside of Dallas before that.
“I felt like it was a good foundation,” he said earlier this week. “I can grow out of it. A lot of growing pains, a lot of ups and downs, but it’s kind of the same from junior high and into high school. Kind of the same.”
What Smith-Njigba did as a sophomore at both stops bodes well for the Seahawks and their second-year receiver.
At the age of 15, playing on a college team for a Class 6A program in Texas, he had a team-record 1,328 receiving yards in 12 games. Four years later, he broke out again for the Buckeyes, finishing third in the FBS with 1,606 receiving yards and tied for ninth in receptions with 95, leading the team in both categories despite having played alongside two other receivers who would be the next first-round picks. year in Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave.
That sophomore jumping story is all the more reason why Smith-Njigba seems like an obvious candidate after his 63-catch, 628-yard freshman season — even in a receiving corps that still has DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett and in a an offense that appears to rely more on the running game than new coordinator Ryan Grubb at the University of Washington.
Smith-Njigba’s strong spring could be proof enough. No Seahawks player has shined as brightly as he has during organized team activities (OTAs) and mandatory minicamp, but with the caveat that the non-contact nature of May and June practices allows receivers to perform uncontested captures, and that Metcalf and Lockett were not. always on the field during the voluntary portion of the off-season program.
Even then, you don’t often see players consistently stand out like Smith-Njigba has over the past month. This was especially true during an OTA in which he was downright dominant, hauling in eight touchdowns from Geno Smith between 11-on-11 and seven-on-seven periods while Lockett was practicing and Metcalf was not.
“JSN is a great player and (we) expect great things from him,” coach Mike Macdonald said. “He’s had a great offseason, he’s working his tail off. His practice habits are awesome. His movement ability is pretty elite. I think we have a really cool plan for him.”
The feeling at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center last season was that Smith-Njigba looked like a typical recruit from the start and that as his practice and study habits improved, so did his game.
Certainly, the broken left wrist he suffered in the second preseason game was another factor in his slow start. Smith-Njigba returned for the Seahawks’ season opener less than three weeks after surgery, but he caught just 12 passes for 62 yards in the first four games. He’s averaging about four catches and over 43 receiving yards per game over the last 13 games. His four touchdowns in that span included two game-winners.
“I would probably say it took me a few games (to feel comfortable),” he said of his wrist injury. “I wore a cast the first two games, but the training staff did an amazing job here and we managed to cover it up and I feel good now. Towards the middle and end of the season, I felt good, so that was good.”
Smith-Njigba never would have been available to the Seahawks at the No. 20 pick if not for the hamstring injury that limited him to three games during his final college season. The Seahawks made him the first receiver selected in last year’s draft, even though many people within the organization were intrigued by Boston College’s Zay Flowers, a smaller but more explosive player who ran a 4.42-second 40-yard dash and was later drafted. by the Baltimore Ravens.
Smith-Njigba was reportedly clocked at 4.48 at OSU’s pro day. Despite this good but not great stretch, he showed last season that he has the speed to be an outside threat and not just a slot receiver.
“It’s just a hardcover, man,” Macdonald said. “He can play outside, inside, and Grubb does a great job moving guys around and finding matchups. His power and flexibility in his lower body, his ability to accelerate and obviously his good hands and his ability to track the ball is pretty impressive.”
According to ESPN Stats and Info, Smith-Njigba was fielded on 38 of his 63 catches. That included the route he ran to get around Philadelphia Eagles cornerback James Bradberry IV before scoring a 29-yard touchdown with 33 seconds left to give the Seahawks a 20-17 victory in the week 15.
“Being on the outside, I feel like it’s more of a one-on-one matchup and I love one-on-one matchups,” Smith-Njigba said. “Being inside, there’s one-on-one matchups, a lot of zone and just reading the defense and sitting in zone, which I feel like I’m pretty good at, but when it’s one-on-one or being outside, it’s a bit more of a playground and that’s what I like, the challenge.”
The Seahawks’ receiving corps is virtually unchanged from last season, with Lockett, Metcalf, Smith-Njigba, Jake Bobo, Dareke Young and Dee Eskridge all returning to the fold. But the pecking order could change in 2024. While Lockett led the team with 79 catches and finished second to Metcalf with 894 yards, the second-most prolific receiver in franchise history turns 32 in September and has took a pay cut to return to Seattle for his 10th. season.
Smith-Njigba, meanwhile, looks ready for his final jump as a sophomore.
“He’s a guy we can focus our offense on, along with other guys,” Macdonald said. “Tyler Lockett is still a great player. DK Metcalf, phenomenal player. Runners, Noah Fant. But he’s definitely going to be a major part of what we’re trying to do offensively.”