See red zone opportunities inside the 20, 10 and 5-yard lines along with the percentage of time they turned the opportunity into a touchdown.
How do Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s 2026 advanced stats compare to other wide receivers?
This section compares his advanced stats to players in the same position. The bar represents the player’s percentile rank. The longer the bar, the better it is for the player.
See where Jaxon Smith-Njigba lined up on the field and how he performed in each area.
How did the 49ers pass defense compare to other NFL teams this season?
The bars represent the team’s percentile rank (based on QB Rating Against). The longer the bar, the better their pass defense. Team and position group ratings only include players currently on the roster and not on injured reserve. The list of players in the table only includes defenders with at least 3 attempts against them.
against the 49ers
Sunday, October 11th at 4:25PM
Overall QB Rating Against
66.8
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Jaxon Smith-Njigba See More
Smith-Njigba’s second pro season went even better than his first, featuring a 47 percent increase in targets and an 80 percent increase in yardage. The 20th overall pick from the 2023 NFL Draft made big strides in every major metric from Year 1 to Year 2, and he did so while getting more volume in an offense that deprioritized 32-year-old Tyler Lockett. Even DK Metcalf seemed to relegate to Option B status by the end of the year, averaging 7.2 targets per game compared to Smith-Njigba’s 8.1. Perhaps there is room for further volume growth now that Metcalf and Lockett are gone, replaced by Cooper Kupp and Tory Horton. The problem for JSN is that Kupp seems to overlap his skillset more than Metcalf — and then there’s the concern about the quality of Seattle’s offense with Sam Darnold replacing Geno Smith at quarterback. Darnold played well for Minnesota last year, but that was with better blocking and playmaking than Smith in Seattle. It’s surprising to see the Seahawks swap QBs while waiting for the draft to seriously address their porous O-line, though there’s hope for improvement in 2025 with better injury luck and a better scheme under new coordinator Klint Kubiak. For all the progress Smith-Njigba made last year, he had so many cheap PPR points on plays that didn’t help Seattle’s score — while catching just 15 passes from a perimeter alignment — that raised questions about scheme-dependency moving forward.
Smith-Njigba was a divisive prospect coming out of Ohio State last year, with his credentials as a first-round pick largely dependent on his 1,600-yard sophomore season. He barely played as a freshman — no offense in an offense loaded with future first-round WRs — and then caught just five passes in three games during an injury-plagued junior campaign. Smith-Njigba excelled in agility drills at the 2023 Combine, but he skipped the 40-yard dash (later running 4.48-4.53 at his pro day) and didn’t make up for the size (6-1, 196). Seattle took the lead with the 20th overall pick, making “JSN” the first of four straight receivers drafted. Of the four, Zay Flowers and Jordan Addison certainly had better rookie seasons, while Quentin Johnston left looking worse than Smith-Njigba. Honestly, Smith-Njigba’s unusual usage makes it hard to draw conclusions from his rookie season even though he got 93 targets and 675 snaps in 17 games. He took 68 percent of his snaps either in the slot or lined up tight end in formation, and more than one-third of his targets came from behind the line of scrimmage. Smith-Njigba’s failure to draw looks downfield might seem disastrous — just 24 targets 10-plus yards from the LOS — until you remember he’s a 21-year-old in the same offense as a healthy DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. We can’t project a lot of volume with Metcalf and Lockett still there and QB Geno Smith still throwing passes, but new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb could step up the pace and volume of play compared to sluggish former OC Shane Waldron, and Smith-Njigba’s continued development could allow him to overtake Lockett this year or next.
Smith-Njigba didn’t play much as a freshman at Ohio State and was limited to three appearances as a junior while battling hamstring injuries, but in between he put up 1,606 yards as a sophomore in an offense that also featured 2022 first-round picks Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson. For what it’s worth, Wilson said Smith-Njigba was the best player of the trio — a statement made all the more interesting when both Wilson and Olave topped 1,000 yards as NFL rookies. Although he doesn’t have the straight-line speed to match his college teammates, the slot-based Smith-Njigba made waves in 2023 with elite marks in the three-cone drill (6.57 seconds) and short shuttle (3.93). That’s exactly where he’ll play for the Seahawks, making him the first wide receiver selected in this year’s draft at 20th overall. DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett are believed to dominate targets, but Smith-Njigba gives Seattle a third wideout that has been lacking in recent years and could have an immediate impact in three-receiver sets.