Seahawks’ Sam Darnold breaks down hidden challenge of throwing to Jaxon Smith-Njigba

Sam Darnold reached the pinnacle of team success with the Seattle Seahawks in the 2025 season, winning a Super Bowl with the team. And that might not have been possible without the incredible performance all season long downfield by wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Darnold was recently asked about the challenge of playing with someone like Smith-Njigba, particularly from a quarterback-to-wide receiver standpoint.

“I think it’s almost nice as a quarterback you got to get used to it though for sure like because there are times when I first got here last year it was like, I would kind of wait for him to get out of his break, to throw, whereas now, I know he’s going to be there on time,” the two-time Pro Bowler signal-caller said on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

“I just got to lay it to this, if it’s an outbreaker, and I got to trust it, and my feet got to be right, you know, the timing has to match up.

Having played a full season already with Smith-Njigba, Darnold should now feel more confident in his ability to harness the incredible potential of the wideout downfield. In 2025, Darnold threw for 4,048 passing yards and 25 touchdowns with 14 interceptions, while Smith-Njigba had a career-high of 1,793 receiving yards with 10 touchdowns on 119 receptions on 163 targets.

“I’ve been with in terms of you know just how he runs his routes, it’s very unique but it works and all of his routes look the same whether it’s an in cut an out cut or he’s hooking up or he’s running by you, like it’s very impressive the way he does that,” Darnold added about Smith-Njigba’s route-running.

Darnold, Smith-Njigba and the Seahawks will start their Super Bowl defense on Sept. 9 against the New England Patriots at Lumen Field in Seattle.

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