EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsSEATTLE -- Jaxon Smith-Njigba wasn't the main story heading into Sunday night's matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs, which marked Super Bowl LX MVP Kenneth Walker III's return to Lumen Field amid his scorching start to the season.But Smith-Njigba -- not his former teammate -- was the game's biggest star.The NFL's leading receiver and reigning AP Offensive Player of the Year continued his own historic start by catching nine passes for 150 yards and a touchdown in Seattle's 20-3 win. Smith-Njigba now has 867 receiving yards this season. That's 231 yards more than anyone else, and according to ESPN Research, it's tied with Lance Alworth in 1965 for the eighth most through seven games in NFL history."He's tremendous," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. "I don't know how else to describe him. He's had some adversity this week. Just going to leave it like that. But just really proud of him as a person. As a person, competitor, teammate, how do you not just have the most respect for the guy and love him for how he operates?"Smith-Njigba's 27-yard touchdown in the second quarter was his eighth of the season, which also leads the NFL. It came on a play that quarterback Sam Darnold changed at the line of scrimmage before floating a pass down the left sideline to Smith-Njigba, who was being covered one-on-one by cornerback Mansoor Delane.The Chiefs hadn't allowed a touchdown catch to an opposing receiver during their 5-0 start entering Week 7."I have pretty good confidence that if we're throwing him the ball, he's going to come down with it," Macdonald said. "When you see him singled like that ... I knew that's where Sam was going to go with the ball."Of Seattle's 11 conversions on third down (in 16 chances) Sunday night, four were via Darnold throws to Smith-Njigba, including the touchdown and a 33-yard catch and run that was Seattle's longest play of the game.According to ESPN Research, Smith-Njigba is the sixth player in NFL history to have six 100-yard receiving games within his team's first seven games. He's the seventh player ever and the first in the Super Bowl era (which began in 1966) with at least 850 receiving yards and eight receiving touchdowns in his team's first seven games.After finishing 2025 with 1,793 receiving yards -- eighth most in NFL history -- Smith-Njigba is currently on pace to top Calvin Johnson's single-season record of 1,964 from 2012."He's unguardable," Seahawks safety Nick Emmanwori said. "It's pretty amazing to see. I'm sitting there thinking like, 'Wow, this is a potential Hall of Famer.' He's a great receiver. Knowing that he's getting double-teamed and they're sending cloud his way and he's still making plays, it's crazy. It's like, you can't even fathom it. Big ups to him. He's one of one."As was the case last season, the degree to which Seattle's passing game has gone through Smith-Njigba has led to recurring questions about whether too much is on his shoulders. He's receiving 36.6% of Seattle's targets, easily the highest amount of any player in the NFL. According to Elias, he has the second-highest percentage of a team's receiving yards through seven games -- 53.9% -- in the past 75 seasons."I'd love to brag on him more," Macdonald said. "He's tremendous. I think we felt the ball get distributed a little bit more today, which is great. But you'd be crazy not to try to make him the primary on as many concepts as you can. Maybe sometimes he's on the backside of a concept and we can get to him. So yeah, let's keep it going."
