Jaxon Smith-Njigba — Week 1: Eleven Targets and the Fourth-and-One
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Thursday, Sep 10
Smith-Njigba was thrown to eleven times on Seattle's twenty-four throws Wednesday night — eight catches, a hundred twenty-two yards — and the one that mattered was fourth-and-one at the New England forty-five, down seven, which he turned into a forty-five-yard touchdown. He also had the two incompletions from the eight that left Seattle kicking a field goal instead of going up seven.
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11 38 left in the fourth quarter, Seattle down 10 to three, fourth and one at the New England 45. Drew Lock threw short left to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and he ran the rest of the way — 45 yards, touchdown, 6.1 expected points added and 34 points of win probability on one snap, the biggest play of a game Seattle won 13 to 10. Expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position; six on a single play is a touchdown from midfield, which is what it was.
The rest of the night was volume. Seattle threw 24 passes and 11 of them went to Smith-Njigba, with the next receiver on the list at three. Eight catches, a hundred 22 yards. His first catch of the season was also Sam Darnold's first throw of it — 13 yards over the middle on the second play from scrimmage, before Darnold was hurt three snaps later. After that every target came from Lock: eight yards, five, a 21-yarder down the middle on third and 22 that did not reach the sticks, six on third and five that did, 13 to open the fourth-quarter touchdown drive, the touchdown, and 11 more on the field-goal drive that followed. The 11 throws his way were worth +7.7 expected points in total.
Three of them were incomplete, and two of those cost something. Third and nine at the New England 12 in the third quarter, incomplete, field goal. Then second and six and third and six from the eight with just under six minutes left, tied at 10, incomplete and incomplete — Seattle kicked a 26-yarder for a three-point lead instead of a 7.1, and New England spent the last five and a half minutes driving to the Seattle 16 before Josh Jobe's interception in the end zone ended it. The targets were his; the finishes inside the 10 were not.
Back in June the preview split his season into two parts: the volume, which it called sticky, and the altitude — 11 yards every time they threw at him last year — which it did not. Wednesday delivered both halves at once, a hundred 22 yards on 11 targets on a night the quarterback changed on the third dropback. One game does not settle the altitude question, and this one came with a receiver room that sent three throws each to Cooper Kupp and Rashid Shaheed and nothing beyond that to anyone more than twice. What it does settle is where the ball goes when Seattle has to have it. Next up is Arizona; watch whether the share holds when Lock has a full week as the starter.
_Data via nflverse._
When Jaxon Smith-Njigba's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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