The Houston Texans were the latest victims in Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s reign of terror against NFL defenses.
With an All-Pro cornerback and top-five passing defense, Houston looked like a candidate to slow Smith-Njigba’s historic pace. Instead, the standout receiver hauled in eight receptions for 123 yards and a touchdown for his third straight 100-yard game.
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Smith-Njigba leads the NFL with 819 receiving yards through seven weeks, holding a commanding 190-yard advantage of second-place J’Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals. He’s on pace to put up 1,989 receiving yards on the season, which would break Calvin Johnson’s NFL record of 1,964 set in 2012.
It’s been another leap forward for the third-year receiver, who is coming off a breakout 1,130-yard campaign in 2024.
During Friday’s edition of Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob, Seahawks Radio Network analyst and former NFL wide receiver Bryan Walters broke down what makes Smith-Njigba so tough for opposing defenses to cover.
Don’t let the size fool you
Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans told reporters the plan was to be aggressive and “get hands” on Smith-Njigba leading up to Monday’s game. That indicated the Ohio State product could see quite a bit of press coverage to try and keep him from getting open.
After the game, ESPN Texans reporter DJ Biene-Aime pointed out Smith-Njigba was pressed on just eight of 33 routes.
Even if the Texans had been more aggressive in trying to press Smith-Njigba, Walters said how the Seahawks use him makes that tough.
“Is he going in motion across the line of scrimmage? You’re not going to able to press him when he’s in motion, and JSN goes in motion quite a bit,” Walters said. “Is he setting up tight (when) they do these tighter formations? Well, a lot of times that’s where this run game happens. So, what’s JSN doing off the line? Well, he’s kind of taking an angle like he’s gonna block. And what’s a defender supposed to do? I mean, he’s gotta make a tackle. He’s gotta go try to defend the run. And then you release for the crossing route or whatever JSN does, and that’s all meshed off this run game.”
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It’s more than just the game plan. Smith-Njigba has also shown an ability to release and create separation off the press, Walters said.
“Just because you’re a little receiver doesn’t mean people should press you,” Walters said. “I mean, look at Doug Baldwin. Doug Baldwin was one of the best receivers in the league to face press coverage. JSN has had really good releases against press coverage. He’s shown he can beat press coverage.”
An example for every WR to learn from
Walters pointed back to Smith-Njigba’s performance in Week 6 against the Jaguars as an example of why he’s been so hard for defenses to figure out.
Early in the game, Smith-Njigba ran what Walters described as an “unguardable” post-corner route for a big gain that ultimately set up his 61-yard TD grab on the first play of the next drive.
“The whole rest of the game, he worked everything off that route,” Walters said. “That big 61-yard touchdown he had was off a post route. What did the corner do? Well, (he’s thinking Smith-Njigba) might run this post corner on me again. That’s in the back of your mind.”
Touchdown JSN! 61 yards.
SEAvsJAX on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/2RqhCoOuX4
— NFL (@NFL) October 12, 2025
The reason why the standout receiver is able to keep defenders guessing with his routes is because his speed never changes while running his routes, Walters said.
“A lot of receivers will kind of stand up briefly if they’re about to break down, or they’ll run harder if they’re running a go ball as opposed to dig,” Walters explained. “JSN’s speed is the same. So, that makes him dangerous because as a DB you can’t tell what route he’s running. He’s meshing all routes off of each other.”
That’s a quality Walters believes every wide receiver should learn.
“If I was a wide receiver coach, that’d be the thing I would want to harp on my guys the most is no giveaways, no dead giveaways of what route you’re running.”
Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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