There is nobody else in the NFL like Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The receiver has not only led the Seahawks in receiving in all seven games, JSN also has the seven highest single game totals and is the only Seattle player to eclipse 70 yards in 2026.
This is awesome and concerning.
—Through seven games in 2025, JSN caught 50 passes for 819 yards and four touchdowns on 70 targets.
—Through seven games in 2026, JSN has caught 58 passes for 867 yards and eight touchdowns on 78 targets.
Smith-Njigba had 948 yards through eight games last season en route to winning Offensive Player of the Year, so he needs just 82 yards to break his own franchise record for most through Seattle’s first eight. If he gets 133 yards, JSN will become the fifth player in NFL history to reach 1,000 at the “midway point”. He’d join Tyreek Hill as the only players with 1,000 yards through eight games in the Super Bowl era:
But nobody has had to carry an offense like JSN. Nobody else leads his team in receiving every single week.
Among 2026’s other receiving leaders, Christian Watson and Matthew Golden have each other; CeeDee Lamb has George Pickens; Tee Higgins has more yards than Ja’Marr Chase; Puka Nacua had Davante Adams; Drake London, Chris Olave, and Zay Flowers lead their teams most weeks, but hardly all weeks.
A non-JSN Seahawk reaching 48 receiving yards has only happened five times, and by five different players.
One of those five players who has an opportunity to step up on Monday against the Chicago Bears is Tory Horton.
With Rashid Shaheed already ruled out, Horton has a chance to remind fans why he was on pace for 53 targets last year prior to his injury. He has only been targeted 10 times in six games, half of those coming in a letdown against Denver (not all his fault) in which he only caught one pass for 13 yards.
In this week’s Seaside Joe Expectations Survey, Horton received over 20% of the votes to have the second-most yards behind JSN. It’s the second time that Horton has been second, with A.J. Barner leading the votes five times, including Week 8.
The 55.5% of votes for Barner is a season-high.
However that is faint praise, as Barner is averaging 25.7 yards per game. With Shaheed out, will a second option become more apparent or will it just mean more yards for JSN?
Logically I know Seattle would be better off with more good receiving options. But the JSN fan in me wants to see if he can lead the Seahawks in receiving for all 17 games.
Expected Score: Seahawks 27.7, Bears 15.5
My Expectation: Even bigger win
This is the biggest score differential that you have expected since the Chargers in Week 4 and I don’t disagree. I’m going to be uncharacteristically optimistic here and say that I expect the Seahawks to build a big lead at home.
The Bears are just as dependent on outside run as the Chiefs and we saw what happened to Kenneth Walker last week. The only difference is that D’Andre Swift is much worse than Walker and Chicago will be without Kyle Monangai (the far better running back) again.
So I really like Seattle’s matchup defensively and I love their matchup offensively.
As usual, the only thing that could trip them up is turnovers. The return of Zach Charbonnet (zero career fumbles) and the addition of Quenton Nelson could improve the run game and decrease the chance of turnovers. Seahawks 30, Bears 13.
Sam Darnold passing yards: 258
Over. This is a remarkably on-point average answer because Darnold had 257 passing yards against the Chiefs.
Emanuel Wilson rushing yards: 70.4
Under. I know (the royal) we are anxious to replace Wilson’s name here with Charbonnet or Jadarian Price. Let’s just see what happens on Monday and take it from there. I’m not sold that Mike Macdonald is as eager as fans to put anything other than a warmup on Charbonnet’s plate.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba receiving yards: 137.3
Over. Because I would like it.
The Other Week 8 Results:
JSN at a season-high 79.6% of the vote for OPOG
Nick Emmanwori leads DPOG for the second week in a row, this time seeing his lead increase from 34.1% to 47.4%
Charbonnet debuts on the charts with 14.6% of the vote for first touchdown
We talk about JSN, Emmanwori, and Murphy, all recent high draft picks. A player we almost never talk about with regards to expectations and players of the game is Devon Witherspoon.
I only bring this up because it’s interesting to debate what a “Player of the Game” type of game would even be for Witherspoon. He has two interceptions 53 career games, so that’s less than 4% of his starts. Spoon had 3 sacks as a rookie, but only 1.5 sacks since then. It’s been almost exactly two years (11/3/24) since he forced a fumble.
Typically forcing turnovers and sacking the quarterback are the types of plays that get a defensive player recognition. In Spoon’s case, those moments are rare — and that’s all I’m saying. His contributions are far more understated than most star cornerbacks.
A Spoon DPOG game would look like his Super Bowl performance where arguably he should have been MVP. Very difficult for it to go to a defensive player (notwithstanding Malcolm Smith where I’d have given it to a different defensive player named Kam Chancellor) but I’d have chosen Spoon given the defense was the star of that game.
Dangit Joe, on my phone, all I saw was "JSN is out" until I clicked on it. Don't do that to me again!!!