Drake Maye is one of a handful of NFL breakout stars so far this season.
Drake Maye is one of a handful of NFL breakout stars so far this season.Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
Seahawks fans probably got a little nervous about the state of their passing game this offseason when the team traded D.K. Metcalf to the Steelers and only signed a couple of older veterans, Cooper Kupp and Marques Valdez-Scantling.
It’s working just fine because the Seahawks had another receiver waiting to break out into superstardom.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the 20th pick in 2023, had a solid Pro Bowl season in 2024, but has been unstoppable in 2025. JSN, as his fans call him, leads the NFL with 696 receiving yards (116 per game) and is eighth in per-catch average (16.6). Smith-Njigba has been the best deep-ball receiver in the league, with an NFL-high eight catches of at least 25 yards and 339 yards on deep passes, which laps the field. The next player has 267 deep-ball yards, and third place has 186.
Smith-Njigba is putting up his big numbers even though the Seahawks have thrown the second-fewest passes in the NFL. He’s on pace for 1,972 yards, which would shatter Metcalf’s franchise record by more than 600.
“He’s made that entire offense go,” said Texans coach DeMeco Ryans, who faces the Seahawks on Monday night. “Whether you’re covering him or not, he’s making explosive plays game after game. He continues to show up.”
Smith-Njigba is one of several breakout stars of the first chunk of the 2025 season. Here are more:
⋅ Colts QB Daniel Jones: The Colts are the NFL’s biggest surprise at 5-1, scoring a league-high 32.3 points per game, and Jones is the biggest surprise player.
Cut loose by the Giants after six mostly unproductive seasons, Jones beat out Anthony Richardson for the starting job and has been a terrific fit with coach Shane Steichen, compiling career bests in completion percentage (71.7), yards per attempt (8.3), and passer rating (104.4). Jones might turn into a pumpkin soon — his numbers have been sliding the past three weeks — but Danny Dimes is proving that he can thrive in the right system.
⋅ Patriots QB Drake Maye: The Patriots are also one of the league’s biggest surprises at 4-2, and Maye’s improvement from Year 1 to Year 2 — as well as this year from Week 1 to Week 6 — has been profound. Maye is the only quarterback age 23 or younger since at least 1950 to complete at least 70 percent of his passes (73.2) and average at least 250 passing yards (253.7) in his team’s first six games.
⋅ Giants RB Cam Skattebo: The fourth-round pick from Arizona State has been bashing through defensive lines the way he bashes his head against brick walls. Skattebo, who plays a lot like former Buccaneers fullback Mike Alstott, has 338 rushing yards and five touchdowns, including three in last week’s big win over the Eagles. He brings big energy to a Giants team that hasn’t had much to cheer about in the last decade.
⋅ Commanders RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt: The 245th pick, taken in the seventh round out of Arizona, is proving again that running backs can thrive no matter when they are drafted. Though Croskey-Merritt has had a bit of a fumbling problem of late, he has 344 yards and four touchdowns, ranking fifth in the NFL with a 5.73 rush average and first with a 65 percent success rate on all rushes.
⋅ Buccaneers WR Emeka Egbuka: The 19th pick in April is the early leader for Offensive Rookie of the Year. Though Egbuka has just 27 catches in six games, Egbuka is fourth with 469 yards and a 17.4 average, and tied for third with five touchdowns. Like Smith-Njigba, Ebguka has thrived on the deep ball — he’s second to his fellow Ohio State guy with 267 deep-ball yards and seven 25-yard catches, and leads with four deep-ball touchdowns.
⋅ Cowboys WR George Pickens: He was a good but not great receiver for three years in Pittsburgh, and wore out his welcome with immature behavior. But Pickens has blossomed into a star in Dallas, thanks in part to CeeDee Lamb missing the last three games. Pickens leads the NFL with six touchdown catches (one in five straight games), he’s second in catches of 25-plus yards (seven), and third in receiving yards (525).
⋅ Bears WR Rome Odunze: Last year’s No. 9 pick had a slow rookie season, with just 54 catches for 734 yards and three touchdowns in 17 games, but is quickly emerging as the Bears’ No. 1 target this year with 22 catches for 328 yards and five touchdowns in five games.
⋅ Giants WR Wan’Dale Robinson: He’s a 2022 fourth- second-round pick who hasn’t been known for explosive plays, with five touchdowns in three seasons and just 699 yards receiving on 93 catches last year (7.5 average). But with Malik Nabers out for the year with a torn ACL, Robinson has stepped up with 351 yards, two touchdowns, and six catches of at least 25 yards.
⋅ Colts TE Tyler Warren: The 14th pick in April has made an immediate impact as Jones’s favorite target. Warren leads all tight ends with 370 yards, and he’s top-five in catches (29) and average catch (12.8) while grabbing two touchdowns.
⋅ Broncos LB Nik Bonitto: Last year was really his breakout, when Bonitto was named Second Team All-Pro with 13.5 sacks and a pick-6. In his fourth season, Bonitto is almost unblockable for the No. 2 scoring defense.
Bonitto leads the NFL with eight sacks — on pace for 23 — and 16 quick pressures (under 2.5 seconds). His 26 percent pressure rate is the highest of any player with at least 40 pass rush snaps.
Joe Flacco turned back the clock with a vintage performance in the Bengals win versus the Steelers.
Joe Flacco turned back the clock with a vintage performance in the Bengals win versus the Steelers.AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press
GOLDEN AGE
Flacco fuels intrigue in AFC North race
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin broke unwritten rules of decorum last week when he criticized Browns general manager Andrew Berry for trading Joe Flacco to the Browns.
“It doesn’t make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your opening-day starter to a division opponent that’s hurting in that area,” Tomlin said.
Thursday night, we saw why Tomlin spoke out. He’s afraid of the Bengals with Flacco.
Playing on short rest with a team he just joined a week ago, Flacco torched the Steelers in a 33-31 win, throwing for 342 yards and three touchdowns and leading the Bengals 52 yards for a game-winning field goal.
“He’s won a lot of games, played in a lot of playoff games, and played in a lot of huge AFC North divisional battles of this magnitude,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “So, I absolutely thought that he was capable of this.”
Flacco said he didn’t always know the plays, but he knew to get the ball to his star wide receivers. Tee Higgins had six catches for 96 yards and a touchdown, and Ja’Marr Chase set a Bengals record with 16 catches for 161 yards and a touchdown. Chase’s 23 targets were the most by a player in 10 years — Antonio Brown had 23 in 2015 — and tied for third most in a game since 1960. (The Broncos’ Brandon Marshall has the record with 28 in 2009.)
“Those guys are different,” Flacco said. “Last week it opened my eyes, just with the simple things. Today I got to see the problems they create.”
The Steelers entered the game with a 2½-game lead in the AFC North, and the path looked clear — the Bengals were lost without Joe Burrow, the Browns are a mess, and the Ravens are a shocking 1-5.
But the Flacco trade changes everything. The Steelers are 4-2 after Thursday’s loss, while the Bengals improved to 3-4. The Steelers had a lot of flaws exposed, while the Bengals looked dangerous with Flacco throwing lasers to Chase and Higgins.
The race could look a lot different in just two weeks. Flacco and the Bengals have extra time to prepare for home games with the Jets and Bears, while the Steelers have a tough stretch coming against the Packers, Colts, and Chargers.
“I’m not going to ride the roller coaster, and I know Mike [Tomlin] isn’t, and hopefully you guys follow suit,” Aaron Rodgers said.
Everyone got a good chuckle this past week when Steelers defensive tackle Cam Heyward dubbed Thursday’s game the “Icy Hot Bowl” in honor of just the second matchup of 40-year-old QBs in NFL history. (Tom Brady and Drew Brees played three times in 2020.)
But these old guys definitely still got it. Thursday’s game is the only one in NFL history in which both quarterbacks:
⋅ Completed 65 percent of passes.
⋅ Threw for three-plus touchdowns.
⋅ Had a 100-plus passer rating.
⋅ Threw a 25-yard touchdown pass.
⋅ And erased a double-digit deficit.
Flacco is the first QB in NFL history with 550 passing yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions, 60 completions, and 65 percent completion percentage in his first two starts with a new team. And did you see Rodgers’s Hail Mary attempt at the end of Thursday’s game? It traveled 69.8 yards in the air, the longest recorded pass attempt in the NFL Next Gen era (since 2017).
Aaron Rodgers' Hail Mary pass attempt that resulted in an incompletion traveled 69.8 yards in the air, the longest recorded pass attempt since at least 2017.#PITvsCIN | #HereWeGopic.twitter.com/gRxqoJ03ll
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) October 17, 2025
Hopefully there was plenty of Icy Hot in the postgame locker rooms.
Jeffery Simmons leads all defensive tackles with 4.5 sacks this season.
Jeffery Simmons leads all defensive tackles with 4.5 sacks this season.AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press
ETC.
Simmons can sabotage Patriots’ Vra-Bowl party
A few nuggets on the Titans and Patriots in advance of Sunday’s Vra-Bowl in Nashville:
⋅ The Titans don’t have many players who will scare you, especially with Calvin Ridley out with a hamstring injury, but defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons is one to keep an eye on. He can wreck a game in a hurry.
A two-time All-Pro in six seasons, Simmons’s 23 pressures and 4.5 sacks are the most among defensive tackles, as are his 13 quick pressures and two turnovers forced off pressure. Mike Vrabel drafted Simmons with the 19th pick in 2019 and is well aware of his skills.
“I can’t do anything physically to recreate what he would do,” Vrabel said. “Try to just show them as much tape and try to explain to them how he’s going to play. The style and do everything that we can to hopefully not allow him to affect the play.”
⋅ The NFL had just one kickoff return touchdown in the preseason and only one in the regular season. The Patriots got both — TreVeyon Henderson in the preseason opener and Antonio Gibson in Week 2.
The lack of return touchdowns is a surprising development from the new rules. The kickoff return rate has jumped from 32 percent this time last year to 80 percent, yet the number of touchdowns decreased from two to one.
⋅ The Patriots are third in the NFL with 43 points scored in the first quarter. The Titans are last with 9, joining the Jets as the only teams not to have scored a touchdown in the opening 15 minutes. The Titans have gone nine games without scoring a touchdown on their opening drive.
In fact, the Titans have scored one touchdown in the first half all season, a 9-yard catch by Elic Ayomanor in a Week 2 loss to the Rams.
Hot air
It’s funny how the players that garnered the most ink in the offseason haven’t done a whole lot this season.
The Bengals’ Trey Hendrickson has probably been the best of the bunch, after making a big stink about his contract and holding out of training camp. He hasn’t been terrible in six games — four sacks, one forced fumble, and three turnovers forced by pressure — but he hasn’t made a huge impact, either.
Terry McLaurin was another player who held out of training camp and had a very public contract negotiation with the Commanders. He has just 10 catches for 149 yards and no touchdowns and is about to miss his fourth straight game with a quadriceps injury.
Micah Parsons, whose contract negotiation with the Cowboys went so off the rails that they traded him to the Packers, has just 2½ sacks and no other impact stats in five games.
Rookie edge rusher Shemar Stewart, the 17th pick who refused to sign his rookie contract all offseason because the Bengals demanded he accept unique language, has just two tackles and no sacks in three games. He played 22 snaps and didn’t record a stat on Thursday night.
And Jaguars rookie Travis Hunter, hailed as the first true two-way player since Chuck Bednarik 60 years ago, has been a dud. He has played 63 percent of snaps on offense and 39 percent on defense — for 67.5 total snaps per game — yet he has done nothing. Hunter has 20 catches for 197 yards, no touchdowns, and one fumble, and 15 tackles with two passes defended on defense. Playing in the NFL is hard for any rookie, let alone on both sides of the ball.
Extra points
Cornerback Greg Newsome is racking up the sky miles this month. Two weeks ago, he played with the Browns in London in a Week 5 loss to the Vikings. He was traded to the Jaguars the following Tuesday, and now is back in London for a Week 7 game against the Rams. He’s the fifth player to play in two international games with two teams in the same season, joining Gareon Conley, Patrick Johnson, Latavius Murray, and Adrian Peterson … It wasn’t long ago (the 2018-19 seasons) that the NFL didn’t have any lefthanded quarterbacks. Sunday, two Hawaiian lefties will do battle as the Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa faces the Browns’ Dillon Gabriel, the NFL’s first matchup of southpaws since Chris Simms faced Michael Vick in 2006. The Falcons’ Michael Penix also is a lefthanded starter … The Bears have lost eight straight games to the Saints, who travel to Chicago on Sunday. The Bears’ last win in the series came in 2008 … A classic strength-vs.-strength matchup Sunday in San Francisco. The 49ers lead the NFL in passing offense (291.5 yards per game) and the Falcons lead in passing defense (139.4). Mac Jones (3-1) is in line for his fifth start in place of Brock Purdy … The Broncos have an NFL-high 30 sacks, and have only allowed six, for a plus-24 differential that is the best through six games since the 2000 Buccaneers … Reinforcements are coming: The Bills are getting defensive linemen Michael Hoecht and Larry Ogunjobi back from six-game suspensions, as are the Chiefs with receiver Rashee Rice … Expect plenty of fireworks Monday night in Detroit when the Lions play the Buccaneers — two teams with high-powered offenses and spotty defenses. Since 2023, the top two quarterbacks in passing yards and touchdowns are Jared Goff (10,594 yards, 81 touchdowns) and Baker Mayfield (10,083 yards, 81 TDs) … While everyone was bashing Bill Belichick this past week, he quietly flipped four-star recruit Kenton Dopson III from the University of Miami to North Carolina.
Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com.