RENTON — Far from experiencing any hints of jealousy over the recent breakout of second-year receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, DK Metcalf insists he feels only pride.
“Just to see him put everything together, I mean it’s kind of like a proud parent or a big brother moment just to see him have the success,” Metcalf said Wednesday of Smith-Njigba, who is sixth in the NFL in receiving yards this week with 911. “And I know he’s going to continue to have major success in his league.”
It’s a situation Metcalf — in his sixth NFL season — compared to his own emergence in his second year in the NFL in 2020, when he set the Seahawks team record with 1,303 yards playing alongside then six-year veteran Tyler Lockett.
“I know Lock saw me make the transition to getting the numbers that he’s (Smith-Njigba) getting now,’’ Metcalf said. “But just to see it from the other side, from the vet side or the OG side, is kind of great because last year he didn’t really have any idea of what was going on or how to take it, 16 games, 17 games in a season.”
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In that sense, the Seahawks receiving room can be viewed as an apt metaphor for the cycle of life.
Lockett himself was once the young kid on the block, taken in the 2015 draft when Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse were the mainstays. By Lockett’s fourth year in 2018, he had become the team’s No. 1 receiver, setting a then career-high with 965 yards in Baldwin’s final season.
Metcalf arrived the following season and paired with Lockett to give the Seahawks one of the best duos in team history. The two have combined for 88 TD receptions since, second-most in the NFL behind only Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans and Chris Godwin (92).
Drafting Smith-Njigba with the 20th overall pick in 2023 set in motion an inevitable changing of the receiving guard.
As Smith-Njigba’s numbers have taken off — he has 38 receptions for 592 yards in the last six games — Lockett’s have dipped. Lockett has 11 receptions for 127 in that span, and he didn’t have a catch Sunday for the first time since 2019.
Lockett turned 32 in September and his contract carries a $30.8 million cap hit in 2025 and no guaranteed money, meaning there likely will be some difficult discussions to be had in the offseason.
Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said Smith-Njigba’s recent run isn’t necessarily a reflection on Lockett, just the way things have turned out lately.
“Lock’s, I think, still playing at a really high level, just the ball’s finding Jax a lot right now,” Macdonald said.
In fact, it’s doing so at a historic rate.
According to NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Smith-Njigba tied a team record on Sunday with his fifth straight game of 70 or more receiving yards. The only two other receivers to do that previously are Metcalf in 2020 and Steve Largent in 1985.
Smith-Njigba is just a yard away from already having the longest such streak — his recent run of success began when he had 69 yards against the Bills on Oct. 27.
That was the first of two games Metcalf missed with a sprained knee. Metcalf’s absence raised the question of whether Smith-Njigba was ready to handle a bigger role.
Smith-Njigba’s seven-catch, 180-yard performance in the second of two games Metcalf missed on Nov. 3 against the Rams answered that question emphatically.
It was tempting to think that each receiver would revert to their usual roles once Metcalf returned. Instead, Smith-Njigba has continued to catch passes at a high rate.
Smith-Njigba has 25 receptions for 343 yards and two TDS in the last four games, all wins, while Metcalf has 18 for 244 yards and zero touchdowns and Lockett seven for 55 and no TDs.
Macdonald noted that Smith-Njigba has been the beneficiary of the way defenses are playing the Seahawks, and especially the attention given to Metcalf, who has also been battling a knee injury and a shoulder issue.
“He’s doing a great job,’’ Macdonald said of Smith-Njigba. “And the other thing is we’ve got a guy on the other side of the field that commands a lot of coverage attention as well, so you can’t double everybody. If they’re going to do the stuff they’re doing right now against us, then that allows them to do what he’s been doing.’’
Still, in a bottom-line business, receivers in particular know that many often look solely at the stat line to judge their effectiveness. And even when teams are winning, that can be a tough thing for some to accept.
Witness the controversy this week in Philadelphia where receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith voiced frustration over the team’s lack of passing following the Eagles’ 22-16 win over Carolina in which QB Jalen Hurts threw for just 108 yards — a win that was Philly’s ninth in a row and improved their record to 11-2.
Metcalf insisted Wednesday the only numbers he cares about are the final score.
“I just look at it as a sign of respect that I’ve gained from other defensive coordinators and just continue to do my job with it as blocking or being a decoy,’’ he said of the double-teams and zone defenses he often faces. “The ball is going to find me one play or another, but if it doesn’t, at least we get the dub. And that’s all that matters in this league is winning and to continue to win. And if you continue to win, you stay relevant.”
It’s not as if Metcalf isn’t producing at a high level. He has 54 receptions for 812 yards, and his averages of 4.9 receptions and 73.8 yards per game are each among the top three of his career.
Metcalf turns 27 on Saturday, and he is the third-longest continuously tenured Seahawk behind only Lockett and punter Michael Dickson (2018).
Where he was once the up-and-comer looking to the likes of Lockett and Bobby Wagner for advice, he is the one often approached by younger players.
“We’ve got a lot of younger players coming in and they’re starting to call me OG and vet, and (doing it) too much,’’ he said with a laugh. “But they come to me asking questions about the body or recovery process or what I do on off days, and I just take it as a sign of respect, number one that they come up to me asking me questions or they trust me enough to ask me those questions.’’
His only request, he said, is to stop with calling him an OG (original gangster), which inevitably also carries the connotation of age.
“I told them don’t ‘call me that again,’” Metcalf said. “And I quickly turned my head.”
Bob Condotta: bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Bob Condotta covers the Seahawks for the Seattle Times. He provides daily coverage of the team throughout the year.
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