Camp Takeaways: Jaxon Smith-Njigba Continues to Amaze Fellow Seahawks in High Leverage Situations

Stop if you’ve heard this before: Jaxon Smith-Njigba is pretty damn good.

Stars don’t flash every single day in training camp, especially an established one coming off of winning Offensive Player of the Year honors like Smith-Njigba is for the Seattle Seahawks, with more reps dedicated to younger players and coaches prioritizing installing the offense over game planning to feature the best player as they would in the regular season. But there will always be practices this serve as a reminder of that star’s greatness and for the “Emerald City Route Artist,” Wednesday’s 10th camp practice proved to be just that.

Targeted far more than he has been in most of the practices in camp to this point, Smith-Njigba got rolling early in Wednesday’s hot, smoky session, starting with a 25-yard reception along the sideline with tight coverage from cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett that quarterback Sam Darnold dropped right into his hands. Moments later, he beat Pritchett again, this time on a fade down the left sideline with safety Ty Okada coming over a hair too late in supporting coverage, allowing the receiver to scamper 38 yards for a touchdown.

“It was great to see him come alive, some of those [in] high-leverage situations too, when there's defensive attention at where he's at at all times. ” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald remarked after practice. “So for him to be able to make those plays is great for the Seahawks, great for him. And I think we're feeling like he can get open from wherever, doing whatever, doing all the things from all the places. But how do we optimize it? How do we move him around? Where is he in the progression? He's going to be number 1 in the progression on a lot of plays.”