Seahawks players with the Lombardi Trophy at the Super Bowl LX victory parade in Seattle. Photo by SounderBruce, CC-BY-SA-4.0, resized.Jaxon Smith-Njigba and the 2,000-yard chase: six weeks, 717 yards and a record pace
Seahawks players at the Super Bowl LX victory parade in Seattle. Washington National Guard photo, resized.The pace
Six games into Seattle’s title defense, Smith-Njigba leads the league in receiving yards by 137. He has caught 49 of 65 targets, and nine of those catches have gone for 20 yards or more, also the most in the league.
Receiving yards leaders after six weeks
Over 17 games that works out to 2,032 yards, 139 catches and 20 touchdowns.
Exterior of Lumen Field in Seattle, July 2023. Photo by PCN02WPS, CC-BY-SA-4.0, resized.Week by week
- 8 catches, 122 yards, 1 TD in a 13-10 win over New England
- 9 catches, 155 yards, 3 TDs, including an 82-yarder, in a 31-7 win at Arizona
- 10 catches, 128 yards, 2 TDs in a 33-31 loss at Washington
- 5 catches, 76 yards in a 30-23 win over the Chargers
- 5 catches, 102 yards, 1 TD in a 32-29 loss to San Francisco
- 12 catches, 134 yards in a 17-14 overtime loss at Denver
Receiving yards by week, 2026
He had at least 100 yards and a touchdown in four of the first five games. Before this season, only Elroy Hirsch, Jerry Rice and Randy Moss had done that.
Calvin Johnson at Lambeau Field, January 1, 2012. Photo by Mike Morbeck, CC-BY-SA-2.0, resized.The number nobody has reached
Calvin Johnson’s 1,964 yards in 2012 has been the single-season record for 14 years. Cooper Kupp came within 17 yards of it in 2021, in a 17-game season.
Smith-Njigba is already on the list. His 1,793 yards last season are eighth all time.
Most receiving yards in a season
Lumen Field’s north side at dusk, June 2022. Photo by SounderBruce, CC-BY-SA-4.0, resized.How he got here
Seattle took him 20th overall out of Ohio State in 2023. His rookie season brought 628 yards. In year two he had 100 catches, 1,130 yards and a Pro Bowl.
Year three changed everything. He broke DK Metcalf’s franchise record of 1,303 yards on November 23, 2025, with 167 against Tennessee, and finished with 119 catches for 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns. He was a unanimous first-team All-Pro and the second Seahawk to win Offensive Player of the Year, after Shaun Alexander in 2005.
Regular-season receiving yards by year
In the NFC Championship he caught 10 passes for 153 yards and a touchdown in a 31-27 win over the Rams. Seattle then beat New England 29-13 in Super Bowl LX. In March he signed a four-year, $168 million extension that made him the highest-paid receiver in the league.
Sam Darnold with the Seahawks in 2025. Photo by SounderBruce, CC-BY-SA-4.0, resized.The quarterback’s safest throw
Seattle is 3-3, and Sam Darnold has missed two starts, with Drew Lock filling in. The gap between passes to Smith-Njigba and passes to everyone else is the story of the offense.
Passer rating on throws, 2026
“Jax is that kind of guy. He’s a perfectionist.”— Sam Darnold
Eleven games to go
To reach 2,000 he needs 1,283 more yards in Seattle’s last 11 games, about 116.6 a game. To pass Johnson he needs 1,248, or about 113.5 a game. He is averaging 119.5.
“That’s the one I want. Those are the ones that matter.”— Jaxon Smith-Njigba, after the Week 5 loss to San Francisco
The next test comes on Sunday night, when Kansas City visits Lumen Field (8:20 p.m. ET, 03:20 Monday in Cairo). Chicago follows on Monday night, November 2.
Every 100-yard game from here keeps him on the line. Every quiet one, like the 76 yards against the Chargers, has to be paid back somewhere else.
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