Jaxon Smith-Njigba — Week 4: Twenty-Eight on Third and Sixteen
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Tuesday, Oct 6
Smith-Njigba caught 5 of 6 targets for 76 yards and three first downs against the Chargers, and his 28-yard catch on third and 16 in the second quarter was Seattle's biggest win-probability gain on any pass or run, four snaps before a touchdown, in a 30–23 win.
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Seven to three, Seattle, eight 55 left in the second quarter, third and 16 at the Seattle 29 against the Chargers. A sack on first down and a two-yard catch had left the drive there. Sam Darnold threw deep right to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, 21 yards in the air, and he was brought down at the Chargers' 43 after 28. +3.1 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and nine points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, the largest gain on any Seattle pass or run. Emanuel Wilson ran three straight times, the third a conversion on third and one, and Rashid Shaheed scored from the 28.
The line: six targets, five catches, 76 yards, three first downs, +3.5 expected points on the targets, no touchdown. Nine yards on first and five on Seattle's second possession; six on second and 11 late in the first quarter, and the third-down throw after it, to AJ Barner, fell incomplete; the 28; 13 on third and 16 with two 39 left in the half, short of the sticks, and a punt; and 20 on the first snap of the second half, to the Chargers' 48, on the drive that ended in Tory Horton's touchdown. The one incompletion was third and seven at the Chargers' 17 late in the third quarter, up 27 to 13, and Seattle kicked a field goal. Four catches before halftime, one after.
Six of Darnold's 22 throws led the team; Wilson was next with four. Seattle ran 31 times.
Back in June the preview split Smith-Njigba's season into the volume, a 37 percent target share it called sticky, and the altitude, 11 yards a target, which it called the least repeatable part. Sunday was 27 percent of the throws and 12.7 yards a target, on the fewest throws Seattle has made in a game this season. Through four games: 42 of Seattle's hundred 18 throws, 36 percent, 32 catches, 481 yards, 11 and a half a target, six touchdowns. It was his first game this season without a touchdown. Both halves of last season are still here.
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_Data via nflverse._
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