The first wide receiver off this year’s draft board will be the first of that first-round group to sign his rookie contract. Jaxon Smith-Njigba agreed to terms with the Seahawks on Thursday, per Tom Pelissero of NFL.com.
Chosen 20th overall, Smith-Njigba will be tied to a four-year deal that includes a fifth-year option the Seahawks — assuming the Ohio State-developed prospect remains under contract down the road — must exercise by May 2026. For now, Smith-Njigba is the second of this year’s first-rounders — following Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter — to sign his rookie deal.
Smith-Njigba began this year’s run on wide receivers, with three others — Quentin Johnston (Chargers), Zay Flowers (Ravens), Jordan Addison (Vikings) — going off the board from Nos. 21-23. Smith-Njigba is coming off essentially a lost 2022 season. He played in only three games and caught just five passes, nursing a nagging hamstring injury throughout. Despite suffering the injury early in the year, Smith-Njigba could not return for the Buckeyes’ New Year’s Eve CFP semifinal matchup against Alabama. While that generated some scrutiny, JSN’s dominant junior season still powered him to a top-20 draft slot.
Playing on a Buckeyes team deploying 2022 first-rounders Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave, Smith-Njigba led the Big Ten powerhouse in receiving — by a substantial margin — and delivered a monster Rose Bowl performance to punctuate his breakthrough year. Smith-Njigba caught 95 passes for 1,606 yards and nine touchdowns as a sophomore. Against Utah in that year’s Rose Bowl, he snagged 15 passes for 347 yards and three TDs. Although his hamstring issue undoubtedly came up in predraft visits, teams were willing to look past that trouble because of the 2021 emergence.
Not one of the teams linked to Smith-Njigba, the Seahawks will add him to a receiving corps that already includes standouts Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf. Smith-Njigba will not be extension-eligible until 2026, and with teams often waiting until Year 5 on non-quarterback first-rounders’ deals to do extensions, this contract figures to line up well with the higher-end deals given to Lockett and Metcalf. Largely a slot target at Ohio State, the 6-foot rookie is set to become a high-upside WR3 in Seattle to start his career.
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