'Chasing perfection': Jaxon Smith-Njigba's path from slot receiver to unanimous All-Pro
SOURCE:The Athletic|BY:Michael-Shawn Dugar
Smith-Njigba always expects more of himself than anyone else does: "Y'all don't really know what I'm really capable of, but I'mma show you."
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RENTON, Wash. — Jaxon Smith-Njigba has always believed his game to be limitless, and for good reason. His high school career was historic. His college career was, too.
“Any limitation that is put on me is not true,” the Seattle Seahawks wideout said recently. “I honestly feel like I can do almost everything.”
In 2025, Smith-Njigba was everything to Seattle’s offense. Thrust into the No. 1 wide receiver role after an offseason featuring an offensive overhaul, Smith-Njigba proceeded to do what he always does: make history.
Smith-Njigba is this season’s receiving king with a league-high 1,793 yards, eighth-most in NFL history. He’s the first Seahawks receiver to lead the league in that category since Hall of Fame wideout Steve Largent in 1985. Largent earned first-team All-Pro honors that year. On Saturday, Smith-Njigba joined Largent as the only other Seahawks receiver to be named first-team All-Pro, ending the franchise’s 40-year drought. He was a unanimous selection among 50 Associated Press voters.
“It’s exciting for him, it’s exciting for the team and it’s exciting for his future,” Largent said of Smith-Njigba’s All-Pro nod. “He’s fully capable of adding to his catches and yards and touchdowns and success as a Seahawk.”
Smith-Njigba’s 119 receptions set a franchise record, surpassing the previous high he tied last season (100, also done by Tyler Lockett in 2020). He also recorded 10 receiving touchdowns, seventh-most in Seahawks history. Seattle’s recent receiver history features outstanding seasons by Doug Baldwin, a champion and two-time Pro Bowler; Lockett, who is second all-time for the franchise in yards, catches and touchdowns; and DK Metcalf, who had a second-team All-Pro nod and two Pro Bowl selections in Seattle.
Smith-Njigba has solidified himself as the next great Seahawks wideout.
“I just really like the way he plays football,” said Largent, Seattle’s all-time leader in receptions, touchdowns and yards and a Pro Football Hall of Famer. “He’s not an overly big guy, but he gets open, and he catches the ball well. He does something with it once he’s got the ball. He’s an exciting player, for sure.”
Largent, one of four players whose jersey is retired by the team, said he feels a connection to all the receivers that play for the Seahawks, but particularly those who produce at a high level. Smith-Njigba certainly qualifies.
“It’s exciting for me to see him breaking records,” Largent said.
Smith-Njigba accomplished all this while serving as the best player on the highest-scoring team in the franchise’s 50-year history. The Seahawks have home-field advantage in the playoffs after winning a franchise-best 14 games in the regular season. Smith-Njigba is the favorite to win Offensive Player of the Year, and if he brings that home, he’d be the first Seahawk to do so since Shaun Alexander in 2005. He’s already Seattle’s first offensive player named first-team All-Pro since 2012 (Marshawn Lynch and Max Unger).
The 23-year-old Smith-Njigba cares more about team success than individual accolades. That said, he always knew he was capable of greatness. At Rockwall High, Smith-Njigba was one of the most prolific pass catchers in the history of Texas preps. The 95-reception, 1,606-yard season he had as a sophomore at Ohio State is still the best in school history.
This offseason, Seattle changed offensive coordinators and starting quarterbacks and traded Metcalf to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a second-round draft pick. The latter decision put the spotlight on Smith-Njigba, who was coming off a Pro Bowl appearance of his own, albeit as an injury replacement.
Seattle has long known that Smith-Njigba is a special player. However, faith in his ability was not necessarily part of the math when deciding to move Metcalf. Only a few people knew for certain that Smith-Njigba would be this good, this soon. Smith-Njigba himself was one of them.
“I live by my expectations being higher than anybody can expect,” Smith-Njigba said in a Seattle Sports radio interview. “I feel like that’s what has gotten me here, to have those crazy dreams and goals and really chase after them. (The Seahawks) expected something, but I wanted to come back and really push the bar like, ‘Hey, you don’t even know.’ That’s what I live by: ‘Y’all don’t really know what I’m really capable of, but I’mma show you.’”
Jaxon Smith-Njigba had at least 72 receiving yards in all but one game this season, including 84 in the finale at San Francisco. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
At 6-feet and around 200 pounds, Smith-Njigba was, before this season, often cast as a slot receiver. On draft night, Seahawks general manager John Schneider said the player they selected with the 20th pick could play the other receiver spots too, but through the first two years of his career, he was mostly pigeonholed by others as a guy who was best when aligned inside.
Smith-Njigba is a perfectionist, though. To him, the idea that there’s anything he can’t do is ludicrous. His personal trainer, Jonanthan Jones, attributed his production to an obsession with being great.
“I’ve met a lot of talented people in my life,” Jones said on “The Reset with Gee Scott” alongside his young pupil. “But they just weren’t as in love with it as he is. I’ve met very few people who are in love with chasing perfection as he is.”
Part of the reason Smith-Njigba got the slot receiver tag was his lack of off-the-charts measurables relative to players who traditionally dominate on the outside. Smith-Njigba takes offense to being viewed through such a narrow lens. He trains in the offseason to be a well-rounded receiver, capable of dominating defenders from any alignment, against any coverage or cornerback.
This explains why, when asked to recall his favorite catch of the season, Smith-Njigba chose his 61-yard touchdown against the Jaguars. Midway through the second quarter, Jacksonville inserted newly acquired cornerback Greg Newsome into the game, and Smith-Njigba immediately flew by him on a post route for the score.
“That was a big weight off my shoulders, catching that and burning the whole defense,” Smith-Njigba said last month. “That really opened my eyes up, and really the rest of the league, that I can run by you and take it over the top.”
Seattle views Smith-Njigba as a player with the perfect blend of humility and confidence. His tape has always been great, but for the Seahawks to make him a first-round pick, they needed to feel confident in his character. Seattle’s brain trust visited Columbus, Ohio, as part of a cross-country tour to meet with all the top quarterback prospects. Before sitting with C.J. Stroud, the Seahawks had an hour-long meeting with Smith-Njigba.
“How much he loved football, the type of dude he was, all that came out,” said Matt Berry, Seattle’s vice president of player acquisition. “Then, when you tied that to his previous tape, you felt really confident in what you were getting, from him being a special competitor, his football knowledge, how uniquely humble, genuine (and a) good human being. Having that with his skill set and the football knowledge was like a home run.”
Seattle’s last game put those traits on display. In the offseason, 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir mocked Smith-Njigba on social media and claimed he routinely complained to officials about being held. Ahead of their Week 18 game, Lenoir told reporters he wanted a man-to-man coverage assignment on Smith-Njigba and hoped the receiver was ready for that battle. Smith-Njigba heard the chatter but didn’t respond publicly … until after he had a game-high 84 yards in the win.
“It’s hard to respond back to all my fans,” Smith-Njigba said postgame. “But I knew that we were going to see him today and take care of business.”
When speaking about Smith-Njigba during the season, coach Mike Macdonald almost always spent more time on the receiver’s mindset than his talent. Macdonald believes Smith-Njigba’s offseason attitude is the driving force behind his success. When Smith-Njigba was drafted in April 2023, he and fellow first-round pick Devon Witherspoon had a shared vision for the impact they wanted to have on the franchise, which was fresh off a blowout loss in the wild-card round of the playoffs. They intended to take Seattle to the next level.
“They picked us high for a reason,” Smith-Njigba said of those early conversations with Witherspoon, the No. 5 pick that year. “They believe in us for a reason, and we’re going to show them how we play, bring our style of ball that fits in with the team and take it as far as we can.”
Three years into their careers, Seattle has the No. 1 seed, Witherspoon is a three-time Pro Bowler and Smith-Njigba is one of the best receivers in the NFL, reaping the benefits of a never-ending quest to be the best.
“He’s had this vision of who he thought he could be as a player,” Macdonald said, “and all he’s done is chase it.”
