Jaxon Smith-Njigba's Historic Season Was Even Better Than You Realize
Non-Seahawks fans don't and will never appreciate how absurd JSN's 2025 season actually was
Jaxon Smith-Njigba won Offensive Player of the Year, but most fans will only see that he led the NFL with 1,793 yards and assume that’s all he had to do to win the award. Which is great, don’t get me wrong, but leading the league in a category is not historic. Someone leads the league in yards every single season.
JSN didn’t just lead the league in yards. 1,793 yards is not a “volume stat” in JSN’s case. A volume receiver would be Calvin Johnson, gaining 1,964 yards in 2012, but needing 204 targets on a terrible team that was always losing and having Matthew Stafford throwing 45 attempts per game.
In Smith-Njigba’s case, he was on a good team, would sometimes get pulled at halftime because the Seahawks were up by so many points, and Sam Darnold only averaged 28 passes per game. Not only that, but as the only real threat on Seattle’s offense, opposing defenses had little else to do the week before the Seahawks game besides create a plan on how to stop JSN …
And they still couldn’t.
JSN only ranked 31st in the number of routes ran in 2025, almost 200 fewer opportunities than Ja’Marr Chase to even be eligible to catch a pass, but was first in yards.
The awards—when they’re spelled correctly—will say that Jaxon Smith-Njigba was great last season. The context says he was even better than that.
Every week I take questions from Super Joes subscribers. If you want to upgrade your account to Super Joes for an extra $5 per month, do so here and you’ll start receiving the Q&A newsletters:
Scott M: On a per snap basis, who were the most valuable Seahawks last year?
Jaxon Smith-Njigba wins this contest and by a substantial margin. It doesn’t matter that he played 829 snaps—and it wouldn’t matter if he had played far more than that, which he could have under different circumstances.
History will forget that not only did JSN have 1,793 yards last season, but that the Seahawks often rested him in the second half of games in which they were comfortably ahead. Compare his 829 snaps to Amon-Ra St. Brown, Ja’Marr Chase, and George Pickens, all of whom finished top-five in yards, and JSN had at least 100 fewer snaps than all of them. Not only fewer snaps, but also fewer routes because Seattle doesn’t pass the ball as often as those teams.
By yards per route, JSN and Puka Nacua were in a league of their own:
JSN had the highest target share in the NFL (35.8%) and averaged almost 1.4 more yards per route than Chase, a player many still consider to be the best receiver in the league; Chase had 381 fewer yards on 137 more routes.
And maybe next season will belong to Chase or Puka or Justin Jefferson. But last season? Nobody who doesn’t play quarterback had to do more for their offense than Smith-Njigba, because he didn’t play opposite of any other stars, he didn’t have Joe Burrow or Matthew Stafford, and Seattle couldn’t consistently run the ball for the first three months.
For a team defined by defense and special teams, the Seahawks likely would not have won 14 games—or reached the Super Bowl—without JSN.
Among players with fewer snaps:
TE A.J. Barner (second on the Seahawks in offensive EPA by a huge margin)
DE DeMarcus Lawrence (only played in half of the snaps and still managed three forced fumbles, six sacks, two touchdowns)
WR Tory Horton (five touchdowns on only 226 offensive snaps, plus a punt return touchdown)
Chuck Turtleman: Why are we so stingy at EDGE? I was fine with not paying Mafe and signing Fowler on the cheap, but it does feel like the thin spot on defense. If a starter goes down, we're playing some pretty untested guys. Is it just a matter of the position currently being "overpaid and overdrafted" or is this more a matter of it not being of as much (read: crazy) value in Mike Macdonald's system specifically? Or neither of the above and the right guy hasn't fallen in our lap at the right price?
(Question posed prior to Derick Hall extension, although that news doesn’t really change the answer.)
Number one, and this is really true of anything I’ve ever written, I’m fascinated by hindsight. Both in the way we can see how we were wrong in the past and in the difficulty we have changing in the present despite that knowledge.
I mention this because it was only a year ago that the Seahawks got a “D” for signing DeMarcus Lawrence instead of pursuing someone younger, healthier, and, above all, “better”. Or at the very least, everyone (including me) felt Seattle couldn’t stop there. Pleas persisted for the team to trade for Trey Hendrickson and/or Maxx Crosby.
I’m not saying these were the main takeaways, but comments like these from the Field Gulls reactions to the signing were common:
“I have many questions but the man one is…why? The purgatory of mediocrity is JS’s strength I suppose. Maybe Greg Olsen will unretire cause I hear we’re looking for TEs.”
“I did not mind signing the two other players for cheap one year contracts. This one is fairly long term, not cheap, and he is old. I don't get this”
Even during the season, I wrote that Seattle should trade for Hendrickson. Maybe some of us were afraid that “good in October” wouldn’t be “good in January” because it had been so long since the Seahawks had finished off a season on a high note. Plus Lawrence’s dominant season was kind of a slow burn.
John Schneider and Mike Macdonald have earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to assembling the defense—who they trust and who they think is overpaid—and nothing at outside linebacker has been an accident.
Letting Boye Mafe walk was intentional, not drafting a pass rusher was intentional, extending Hall was always the plan, and there is a belief from Macdonald that Jared Ivey and Connor O’Toole are more likely to have a role on defense than most expect.
Last week, I wrote about Ivey’s potential to be a primetime player next season. If Dante Fowler is your number four outside linebacker and Ivey is your fifth, is that a worst case scenario?
As you know, the Seahawks were the most efficient team in the NFL in disrupting the quarterback without blitzing, ranking 25th in blitz rate and 12th in sack rate.
I imagine they’ll get more sacks from Byron Murphy II and Leonard Williams than from any outside pass rusher. That’s probably the way Macdonald likes it.
And if the opportunity for more values like Lawrence become available to Seattle, I don’t doubt that Schneider will jump on it, with or without the fanfare.
zezinhom400: There’s a non-zero chance Hawks and Rams are both 14-0 for their Christmas Day showdown. Has that ever happened? What’s the deepest two undefeated teams have ever met?
And if that happens, Seattle will be on a 25-game winning streak, bc we’re starting the season at 11-0. What’s the longest-ever winning streak across seasons?
Just based on history, I’d say it’s a pretty zero chance. Two teams that are 5-0 or better only meet about once per decade since the 1970 merger.
In 2007, the 8-0 Patriots beat the 7-0 Colts, and that might still be the Super Bowl era record for most wins by two undefeated teams facing each other. You have to go back to 1948 to find a game between a 10-0 team and a 9-0 team.
From what I can tell, there have only been a couple of games since 2021 featuring two teams that were even 3-0. None between teams that were 4-0 or better.
Sam Darnold actually played in the most useful example we have, which of course is when the 14-2 Lions beat the 14-2 Vikings to win the NFC North and earn the number one seed in 2024. But had Darnold won that game, he might not have signed with Seattle and won the Super Bowl.
Over-stating the credit or blame to a quarterback…Undefeated.
The Colts won 23 consecutive regular season games from 2008 to 2009. The Patriots won 21 consecutive games, including playoffs, from 2003 to 2004.
zezinhom400: Are there any other positions where you think we should be expecting some news before 9/9?
I think the Seahawks have everybody they want and everybody they expect to make the roster, which means that future changes come down to unpredictable events that could happen during training camp.
The only position that stands out to me is running back—which I don’t want to be spun into “Seaside Joe thinks the Seahawks still need a running back”.
I don’t think the Seahawks need a running back in the slightest. Not now. It’s just the position with the least amount of experience, except for Zach Charbonnet, who is injured. Nobody other than Jadarian Price is guaranteed to make the Week 1 roster.
Johnny London: I know an SSJ mantra is not to encourage gambling here…
I don’t think that’s a mantra. I just don’t want anyone to take gambling advice from me.
With that in mind, what would you consider the best bets to be on the Hawks? I’ve taken Price at 9/1 for OROY and Murphy for DPOY at 150/1. The latter clearly a longshot, but if he explodes this year, could he be the 1st DT to win it since Aaron Donald? (thanks for the great write-up on this).
I was looking at the Myles Garrett game log from last season. Did anyone else know that he got 14 of his 23 sacks in only four games? He had nine sacks against the Patriots and Ravens combined.
He’s definitely the best pass rusher in the league, but narratives are so often predicated on having a few huge games.
If Byron Murphy can have a four-sack game and a three-sack game next season, I don’t see why not. He had two two-sack games, including the Super Bowl.
Bijan and Jahmyr head up OPOY at 9/1, Ja’Marr is 11/1, and JSN at 13/1 with CC and Puka. What do you expect to happen to JSN’s production this year?
I doubt voters want to give it to JSN again so soon, unless they’re just not given any other choice. As I said earlier, his usage wasn’t anything crazy last year, so Seattle doesn’t really need to protect him to save the tread on his tires. If anything, he’d probably like more targets.
More likely, Brian Fluery doesn’t want to give a 35% target share to one player. The Seahawks have really good receivers and tight ends who they want to see more of next season. I wouldn’t call it regression, I would call it balance.
I actually pondered OPOY recently and my answer was Jahmyr Gibbs. The Lions are setup to have a ton of success next season and Gibbs could be entering his “Marshall Faulk years”.
Ray: I’d like to know more about our scouting department.
One thing we know for sure, everyone spoke highly of new Vikings GM Nolan Teasley.
It’s a good question, one I’ll have to think about how to research and report.
Ryan: Almost all of the focus both nationally and here at SSJ has been on 2026 and 2027 (very understandably and rightfully so). Meanwhile close to half the league is focused on building a team for 2028 and beyond, and this season will only be foundational.
I would be curious to see an article that takes a look at the Seahawks from the perspective of only 2028 and beyond, ignoring the obvious Super Bowl window in the next 2 years.
Coincidentally—or not—I actually wrote an article in March called “2028’s starting quarterbacks”. Maybe not exactly what you’re asking for because it’s about league-wide quarterbacks, but I couldn’t help myself since 2028 was in the title.
If the Seahawks for some reason were ineligible to make the playoffs for the next two seasons with the exact current situation, what might the decision making process by JS & MM look like and how might it differ from actual decisions over the next 16 months?
Another coincidence, I posted a tweet on Tuesday that specifically highlighted which Seahawks are signed through 2028, who they probably won’t keep that long, and who they need to extend before then. I’ll be posting more Seahawks tweets like this moving forward, so follow me there if you haven’t already:
I was already planning an article based around the 2027, 2028, 2029 rosters, salary cap, and whatnot. You’re just on the same wavelength as me. So yes, expect more on that soon.
Hey SSJ, reference your tweet on X… I think you’re missing Chris Paul Jr as a player who will be around in 2028. I’ve spent a good deal of time watching his film this past week and I believe he will make the 53.
As for your remark that you’re fascinated by hindsight, that is a very good thing that more pundits need to understand. I am always taking a stand on what the Seahawks should do. But rather than sticking to my guns and chastising JS or MM for making the “mistake” of not heeding my “advice” to them, I look for the reason their move made sense and add that to use in future predictions I make.
WE'VE GOT JERED IVEY !
... this is enough to add the magic to our draft, as if it weren't enough already.
Another team got better. We're already the best.