The Seattle Seahawks are signing Jaxon Smith-Njigba to a record-breaking four-year, $168.6 million contract extension that will make him the highest-paid wide receiver in NFL history, according to multiple reports that broke Monday morning.
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The news came three days after the Seahawks exercised the 2027 fifth-year option on Smith-Njigba’s rookie contract. That means Smith-Njigba will be under contract with Seattle through 2031 and is set to make make $195.2 million over the next six seasons, which equates to an average of $32.5 million per year over that span.
The annual average of Smith-Njigba’s new four-year extension is $42.15 million, which surpasses Cincinnati Bengals star Ja’Marr Chase’s previous record for a wide receiver by approximately $1.9 million per year.
Is Smith-Njigba worthy of being the NFL’s highest-paid wideout? His record-setting 2025 campaign certainly would suggest so. He piled up a league-high and franchise-record 1,793 receiving yards this past fall, which were the eighth-most in a single season in NFL history.
That being said, paying a receiver top-of-the-market money comes with challenges in the modern-day NFL. Pro Football Focus lead NFL Draft analyst Trevor Sikkema discussed those challenges during his conversation with Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy on Monday, a few hours after the news of Smith-Njigba’s deal broke.
“Once you start to sign them to contracts like this, where they’re taking over 10% of the team’s entire salary cap, you really have to be smart with the rest of your team-building,” Sikkema said.
“Now it’s on you to make sure that you are taking advantage specifically of a lot of rookie contracts that you’ve got over the next couple of years to make it worth it, because that’s the whole team-building scenario and equation,” he added. “It’s always a mix of guys who are getting paid on their second and third contracts, versus guys that you’re getting hopefully premium value for at premium positions or on rookie deals.”
The good news for the Seahawks? General manager John Schneider has been on a heater over the past four drafts, hitting on a slew of starting-caliber and elite players that formed the nucleus for Seattle’s recent Super Bowl run.
And while the Seahawks currently hold just four picks in next month’s 2026 draft, they are on track for many more in 2027. Over The Cap currently projects Seattle to receive four compensatory picks for 2027, which would give Schneider a total of 12 picks to work with next year.
“Is Jaxon Smith-Njigba a good football player? Yes, he is,” Sikkema said. “Does he deserve to be at the very top of the market for wide receivers? Yes, he does.
“But now it really is even more of paramount importance for John Schneider to be able to nail on those draft picks, because now you’ve got so much salary cap going to one certain position. … They’ve got to really hit on premium picks in the draft in order for all of this stuff to be worth it.”
Listen to the full conversation with PFF’s Trevor Sikkema at this link or in the audio player near the middle of this story. Tune into Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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