Catch a rising star: Jaxon Smith-Njigba

After three months of fighting any inclination to get excited over the rookie receiver, he got me up off my couch just before midnight on the East Coast.

All right, it happened. I got excited about Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

For three months now, I’ve been diligent in taking a wait-and-see approach to the rookie receiver from Ohio State. Nothing personal. It’s the position. I’ve been through this exercise often enough to know that you can’t get too carried away by the offseason reports about receivers. When he caught three passes in the preseason opener against Minnesota, I remained unmoved.

Then, with 10 minutes left in the first half of Saturday’s exhibition game against Dallas, Seattle’s rookie ran a shallow crossing route. The cornerback covering him – Eric Scott Jr. – pressed up close, trying to undercut the route and then Smith-Njigba turned upfield to catch Drew Lock’s pass perfectly in stride. You can see the play at 2:49 on the highlights the Seahawks posted to YouTube. By the time he was tackled just short of the goal-line, I was standing up in my living room even as it was pushing toward midnight here in New York. OK. I’m excited.

Not because Smith-Njigba is leading the Seahawks with six receptions in two preseason games. Stats from these games tell you more about playing time than how productive that guy is going to be. It’s the speed Smith-Njigba is playing with. His ability to get to the spot the quarterback expects him to be. Throw in the fact that he was out there returning punts on Saturday, and I have broken one of my cardinal rules of preseason training camp: I’m pumped up for a rookie receiver.