Jaxon Smith-Njigba — Week 2: Eleven Targets, Three Touchdowns
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
Smith-Njigba caught 9 of 11 targets for 155 yards and three touchdowns: 82 yards on second and six on Seattle's second snap, then 7 on third and seven and 12 on third and six. He caught all six of his third-down targets and converted five, which were five of Seattle's six third-down conversions, in a 31–7 win over the Cardinals.
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Nothing to nothing, 12 38 left in the first quarter, second and six at the Seattle 18, the second snap of Seattle's day. Drew Lock threw deep right to Jaxon Smith-Njigba for 82 yards and the touchdown. The ball travelled 36 yards in the air and he ran the other 46. +6.9 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 19.6 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. Both were the largest figures on any pass or run in the game, by either team.
The line: 11 targets, nine catches, a hundred 55 yards, three touchdowns, eight first downs, +17.9 expected points on his targets. A hundred 21 air yards and 52 after the catch, 46 of those on the first one. The catches: the 82; 10 on first and 10 to the Arizona 21; seven on third and two to the Arizona six; nine on third and 10 on Lock's last throw of the half, a yard short; the seven-yard touchdown, short middle on third and seven with 12 31 left in the third quarter, tied at seven, +2.8 expected points and 11.9 points of win probability, the go-ahead score; nine on third and seven; 15 on second and seven to midfield; the 12-yard touchdown, short middle on third and six with 12 44 left in the fourth, up 17 to seven; and four on third and two. Six third-down targets, six catches, five conversions. Seattle converted six third downs in the game, and the other was a run. The two incompletions both came in the last 14 seconds of the half, and one of them was an 11-yard catch reversed on replay. A deep ball to him on second and five in the fourth quarter drew a 16-yard pass interference flag; that is not in his line, and it set up his third touchdown three snaps later.
The share: 11 of Lock's 26 throws. Rashid Shaheed had six, and nobody else had more than two. A hundred 55 of Seattle's 235 passing yards; Shaheed's 35 were next. Six targets before halftime and five after, on a day Seattle threw 14 times before the half and 12 after it.
Back in June the preview split his league-leading season into two parts: the volume, which it called sticky, and the altitude — 11 yards every time they threw at him — which it said was the least repeatable thing in the profile. Week 1 was 11 targets for a hundred 22 yards on a night the quarterback changed on the third dropback. Sunday, with Sam Darnold inactive, per John Boyle at Seahawks.com, and Lock starting, it was 11 again. Through two games that is 22 of Seattle's 50 throws, for 277 yards — 12.6 a target, above last year's 11. The volume is what the preview expected. The altitude has not come down, and 82 of those yards came on one snap. Two games settle little. Seattle is at the Commanders on Sunday the 20-seventh.
_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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