The Seattle Seahawks have been seeing it since minicamps. The 12s have been witnessing it since Week 1 of the regular season. And now, finally, the rest of the NFL is finally coming around to a startling but undeniable fact:
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is unstoppable.
No? Prove us wrong. The Tennessee Titans - like every other NFL defense - tried but failed miserably in Sunday's blowout loss. Smith-Njigba caught eight passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns, including a career-long 63 yarder that gave the Seattle the lead for good in the 30-24 win that improved it to 8-3 and atop the Wild Card race in the NFC.
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JSN is on pace to break Calvin Johnson's receiving record. The secret is out. But it really doesn't matter.
“It’s just hard to guard him, bro,” Seattle cornerback Devon Witherspoon, a two-time Pro Bowler, said after Sunday's game in Nashville. “He’s just so efficient at what he do, and then he’s got a great catch radius. I’m just a fan watching just like y’all when he’s out there, man.”
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Said teammate Jake Bobo, in his third NFL season, "He’s the greatest player I’ve ever played with. Some of the stuff he does I’ve never seen before, nor will I ever see again.”
Largent. Lockett. Metcalf. Smith-Njigba. Get used to it. He belongs.
He has a league-high 1,313 receiving yards, the most by a Seattle player in a season. The previous high was 1,303, set by DK Metcalf in 2020. Metcalf put up those numbers in 16 games. Smith-Njigba broke the record in 11.
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He's on pace to average 119.3 yards per game, which would break break Johnson’s single-season record of 1,964 yards (set in 16 games in 2012).
“It’s unbelievable, man, the way he’s been able to play this year,” said quarterback Sam Darnold. “Every single game. It’s tough to be that consistent.”
Jaxon Smith-Njigba
Jaxon Smith-Njigba | Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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