Jaxon Smith-Njigba Camp Update — August 16: A Long Touchdown Over Witherspoon Settles Nothing

On August 10, Jaxon Smith-Njigba caught a long touchdown from Sam Darnold over Devon Witherspoon in camp, per John Boyle at seahawks.com. Five days later he sat the preseason opener with every other established Seattle starter, per Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times. One highlight, zero game snaps: for the reigning Offensive Player of the Year, August is a formality, and this one is proceeding accordingly.

The June preview dissected his league-leading season into two parts and asked you to hold them separately. The volume — targets climbing three straight years to a 37 percent share, half of Seattle's air yards — is the sticky part, real role that mostly comes back. The altitude — 11 yards gained every time they threw at him, a 33 percent efficiency jump in one season — is the least sticky thing in our library, and the whole question for 20 26 is whether he flies that high again or settles to merely excellent. We couldn't underwrite the spike, and we said September's yards per target, not the raw yards, would be the test.

Nothing in a camp week can take that test. Beating Witherspoon deep is a rep against one of the league's best corners, and it's the kind of thing the best receiver in football is supposed to do in practice; it tells us he's healthy, sharp, and still Darnold's first idea. It does not tell us whether the efficiency spike travels into games that count. Neither does a night off against Dallas backups while the skeleton crew managed a hundred 56 total yards.

Does the June read hold? UNCHANGED — the volume half needed no news and got none, and the altitude half can't be measured until real defenses are trying. Next week: whether Seattle gives the starters any preseason snaps at all before the New England opener, and beyond that we wait for September, where the number to watch is yards per target against last year's 11. We'll check next Sunday.

_Data via nflverse._