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By Aman Sharma
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Kenneth Walker III’s homecoming got the Week 7 buildup in Seattle, but his old Seahawks teammate owned the night.
Wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba turned nine grabs into 150 yards plus a score as the Seattle Seahawks handled the Kansas City Chiefs 20-3.
Citing ESPN Research, ESPN’s Brady Henderson reported Smith-Njigba is the first Super Bowl-era player with at least 850 receiving yards and eight receiving touchdowns over his team’s opening seven games.
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Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald hinted at a tough week for his star.
“He’s tremendous,” 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 867 receiving yards lead the league by 231. ESPN Research has that figure even with Lance Alworth’s 1965 mark, eighth highest ever after seven games.
His eight touchdown grabs also top the NFL. The latest, a 27-yard strike before halftime, came after quarterback Sam Darnold audibled and lofted a throw toward the left boundary, where cornerback Mansoor Delane had Smith-Njigba in single coverage.
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No wide receiver had found the end zone against Kansas City during its 5-0 start.
Seattle converted 11 of 16 third downs. Four went through Smith-Njigba, including the score and a 33-yard catch-and-run that stood as the Seahawks’ longest gain.
Safety Nick Emmanwori called Smith-Njigba “unguardable” and went further.
“It’s pretty amazing to see,” Emmanwori said. “I’m sitting there thinking like, ‘Wow, this is a potential Hall of Famer.’”
Walker, the Super Bowl LX MVP, was held to 36 yards on 14 carries.
At 36.6%, Smith-Njigba’s share of the Seahawks’ targets is the NFL’s highest, and Elias ranks his 53.9% cut of Seattle’s receiving output second at the seven-game mark over the last 75 seasons.
Coming off 1,793 yards in 2025, the eighth-most ever, Smith-Njigba is on track to pass the NFL’s single-season mark of 1,964 yards, set by Calvin Johnson in 2012. Seattle, 4-3, hosts the Chicago Bears on Nov. 2.
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