Jaxon Smith-Njigba, nicknamed JSN, has emerged as an elite wide receiver in all facets. After breaking out as a true WR1 last season, he gave the Seahawks brass the confidence to trade DK Metcalf to Pittsburgh and reshape the passing game around his skillset.
His technicality at the position garnered rare praise from one of Seattle’s legendary playmakers in Marshawn Lynch. DJ Siddiqi published an exclusive interview with Lynch for The Escapist today in which he asked about Smith-Njigba’s best trait.
“Right now, it’s his ability to get open,” Lynch said.
While Metcalf beats JSN in the size and speed department, JSN’s gifted agility and movement skills allow him to run the full route tree, and running the offense through him noticeably raises its reliability.
Klint Kubiak’s new Seattle offense is built around a wide receiver room of JSN, Cooper Kupp, and Tory Horton, who’ve all been effective both inside and outside. They’re better at stretching the defense horizontally rather than vertically, as technical route runners who can get open in a variety of ways. This makes for extreme versatility, as they can all line up interchangeably. Shifts and motions are as effective as ever as lanky, modern defenders can’t avoid the quickness. As coverage becomes more complicated, short windows come open even more.
After Week 1, I made the case for patience while the new offensive coordinator implements his own style of space creation. The entire offense functioned much better in Week 2, producing 395 total yards as opposed to the 230 in the opener- and JSN’s ability to create space was key to it all.
Kenneth Walker III rushed for 105 yards after going for just 20 in Week 1 with only three more carries. Kupp picked up 90 yards on 9 targets after going for just 15 on 3 targets. Horton caught his first NFL touchdown. However, this barely ate into JSN’s volume at all- he still grabbed 8 catches on 9 targets for 103 yards after going for 9-13 and 124 against San Francisco.
JSN’s agility allows him to get open as consistently as any receiver in the league. Even when he lines up in the slot, and a quick nickel defender knows he needs to defend the short areas, they still can’t stay close enough to him when Sam Darnold fires it off fast.
JSN ran two mid-depth in-breaking routes on the opening drive, both on 3rd and long situations. Both times, he got behind the linebackers in the middle of the field before the coverage had a chance to catch up. Not only did these convert the first two third downs of the game, but they allowed Darnold to get into rhythm. They also forced the linebackers to back up, which gave Walker more room to run in the box.
The second one set up the first play action of the day, which opened up Horton on a deep over route for the 21-yard touchdown. The spacing made for a quick start on offense and resulted in Seattle’s first opening drive touchdown since Week 14 of 2023.
While the Seahawks won’t go deep as much as they did with Metcalf, the committed approach to technical route-runners opens the deep ball up plenty. JSN already has 4 deep targets this season for 2 catches and 83 yards. The mid-passing attack is what has been missing, and now it’s being prioritized.
Week 2 was an excellent example of what the Seahawks’ offense can be at full strength. Run the ball on early downs, force the linebackers to move up. Hit JSN on later downs for secure, short gains, and back ‘em up. They have a great chance to keep rolling in Week 3 as Klint Kubiak faces his former team and could put up gaudy numbers against a secondary that allowed 279 yards and 3 touchdowns to 49ers backup Mac Jones this past Sunday. With JSN at full strength, the Seahawks can build their passing game and spacing around as reliable of a recipe as any.