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Seahawks Receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba Adds Another 'Tremendous' Game To His 2026 Season

Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba had nine receptions for 150 yard and a touchdown in Sunday’s 20-3 win over the Chiefs

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Jaxon Smith-Njigba had himself a day. But a nine-reception, 150-yard and one-touchdown game was just another Sunday for the fourth-year receiver.

Following the Seahawks' 20-3 win over the Chiefs in prime time, teammate Devon Witherspoon was asked if anything Smith-Njigba does surprises him anymore, and the cornerback replied with a laugh.

"Hell nah," Witherspoon said. "You can't even be mad at the DB. (Jaxon is) just that good. Real (stuff). He's just that good."

What Smith-Njigba can do doesn't surprise his teammates anymore, but that doesn't mean what he's done through seven games isn't remarkable.

He currently leads the NFL in receiving yards (867) and receiving touchdowns (eight). The next leading receiver, the Saints' Chris Olave, has 636 yards through the same number of games. This is Smith-Njigba's sixth game this season with 100-plus receiving yards, and he joins Michael Irvin (1995), Marvin Harrison Sr. (2000) and Adam Thielen (2018) as the only receivers in the Super Bowl era to have at least 100 receiving yards in six or more of their team's first seven games in a season. And his 867 yards are the third most by any receiver in the Super Bowl era through the first seven games in a season.

"He's tremendous," head coach Mike Macdonald said. "I don't know how else to describe him."

Macdonald added: "I'd love to brag on him more, but he's tremendous… You'd be crazy not to try to make him the primary on as many concepts as you can. Maybe sometimes he's on the backside of a concept and we can get to him."

What makes what Smith-Njigba is doing even more impressive is that he's being this productive while being double-teamed.

"He's unguardable. It's pretty amazing to see," safety Nick Emmanwori said. "I'm sitting there thinking like, wow, this (is a) potential Hall of Famer. Great, great receiver. And knowing that he's getting double teamed and they're sending cloud his way and he's still making plays, it's crazy. It's like you can't even fathom it. So big ups to him. He's one of one."

And when he's not being double-teamed, Smith-Njigba has the occasional one-on-one matchup, and he was able to take advantage of that on Sunday night. On a third-and-9 play in the second quarter, he was matched up with Chiefs cornerback Mansoor Delane and quarterback Sam Darnold recognized the single coverage and connected with Smith-Njigba for a 28-yard touchdown on perfectly thrown ball down the sideline.

"My eyes get big when I see [single coverage]," Smith-Njigba said. "I know if we have the chance to take a shot in man coverage, we're going to take it. Always, always love my chances when I see that."

Darnold added: "For the most part they had somebody over the top of Jax as well, if not even doubling him. Jax is a tough cover. He always will be. He's a fun receiver to be able to throw the ball to."

Later in the second quarter, Darnold and Smith-Njigba connected on a very similar play.

"It truly is a really hard thing to do to stay engaged through a whole game when the defense is trying to take you away," receiver Cooper Kupp said. "But he's done an unbelievable job with that and making the plays when the ball comes his way and doing some pretty cool stuff with it."

Smith-Njigba became the first receiver since 1966 with at least 850 receiving yards and eight receiving touchdowns through the first seven games in a season, per ESPN. His 867 receiving yards are the third most through a team's first seven games of a season in the Super Bowl Era, behind Tyreek Hill in 2023 (902) and Lance Alworth in 1968 (871), per NFL Research.

"He's the best in the world," tight end AJ Barner said. "Just his work and his personality too. Jax is such an incredibly humble player and he just goes back to work every single day and at the end of the day, he wants to do it for the team. It's not really about Jax at the end of the day. In his eyes, he just wants to win. It's great to have a player like that on your team."

Check out the best game action photos from the Seahawks vs. Chiefs matchup on October 25, 2026 at Lumen Field.

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