While flashing his undeniable talent as a rookie, Smith-Njigba is primed to at least enter WR2 territory in Ryan Grubb's offense.
rookie season felt like it was building up to something much bigger — merely scratching the surface of the former Ohio State phenom’s NFL potential.
Smith-Njigba didn’t start his first season at Ohio State, appearing in seven games and pulling in 10 receptions for 49 yards and a touchdown. As a sophomore, however, he exploded for a school-record 1,606 receiving yards on 95 catches and added nine touchdowns. In the Rose Bowl against Utah, Smith-Njigba set an FBS Bowl Game record with 347 yards on 15 catches.
In 2021, during Smith-Njigba’s breakout campaign, 87 percent of his 645 snaps came in the slot, per Pro Football Focus. That was similar to his usage in Seattle’s offense last season when he logged 628 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 63 receptions. So how does that get fixed? Well, bringing in Ryan Grubb as Seattle’s offensive coordinator was the first step.Grubb’s offensive scheme at Washington was known for stretching the field, creating mismatches in deep zones and getting underneath receivers in space with shallow routes as a result. It also regularly utilized its slot receivers in the middle of the field and the seams, creating big plays from anywhere on the field.
Take Jalen McMillan’s 2022 season at Washington, for example. That year, McMillan, who was a third-round pick to Tampa Bay this past draft, played 92 percent of his snaps in the slot and finished with 79 catches for 1,098 yards and nine touchdowns. McMillan’s numbers dipped last season, but that was partially due to him playing two fewer games and massive production from Rome Odunze and Ja’Lynn Polk.
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