Is Jaxon Smith-Njigba The WR1 For 2026 Fantasy Football?
Fantasy

Is Jaxon Smith-Njigba The WR1 For 2026 Fantasy Football?

Ian Hartitz answers the pressing question that all Seahawks fans are asking about fantasy football this season—should JSN be the WR1 overall?

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The Seattle Seahawks are fresh off a Super Bowl 60 victory, led by reigning OPOY Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who finished as the WR2 in fantasy points per game in 2026.  Currently going off the board as the WR3 on Underdog, does Smith-Njigba have a case for being the overall WR1 in fantasy football? Ian Hartitz dives in below. Be sure to check out the full Seattle Seahawks team preview ahead of 2026, too.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba Fantasy Football Outlook: The WR1 For 2026? Not So Fast

While us alleged experts over at Fantasy Life have the audacity to rank Ja'Marr Chase and Puka Nacua ahead of the NFL's reigning Offensive Player of the Year, there's no doubt that JSN is firmly in that conversation. After all, these are the only three players who project for 150-plus targets in our fantasy football projections, and Smith-Njigba's 21.2 PPR points per game last season only trailed Nacua.

It'd make sense if 2025's eruption was a sign of more good things to come for the 24-year-old talent, although we are talking about quite the increase in production. This is probably the best reason why Smith-Njigba is the consensus WR3: We've simply seen a longer track record of success from Chase and Puka.

  • 2023: 63-628-4, 1.32 yards per route run (WR58), 19.6% targets per route run (WR48), 8.8 PPR points per game (WR59)
  • 2024: 100-1,130-6, 1.81 YPRR (WR36), 21.9% TPRR (WR41), 14.9 PPR points per game (WR20)
  • 2025: 119-1,793-10, 3.68 YPRR (WR2), 33.5% TPRR (WR2), 21.2 PPR points per game (WR2)

Of course, JSN (again) gets Mr. Darnold under center, and he (again) has minimal target competition. This combination has Smith-Njigba sitting pretty as Fantasy Life's fifth-ranked overall player—it's tough to see too low of a floor here considering the potential for a talent like this to push for 200 targets with good health.

Also note: The Seahawks now have 51 million reasons to get Rashid Shaheed more involved in the offense, but it's tough to expect more than boom-or-bust WR5 production in fantasy land considering he caught just 18 passes in 12 games after being traded to the Seahawks—and that was with fellow field-stretching specialist Tory Horton out of the picture. … Cooper Kupp turns 33 on June 15 and is coming off career-low per-game numbers across the board. And yet, it wouldn't be at all surprising if Kupp (again) works as this passing game's No. 2 target—a reality that could yield better fantasy results in 2026 should this passing game be forced to up its overall volume. Not the worst upside scenario for the former No. 1 WR in all of fantasy football, especially when he's being priced outside of the top-80 receivers and top-200 overall players in early fantasy football ADP.

Players Mentioned in this Article

  1. Jaxon Smith-Njigba
    JaxonSmith-Njigba
    WRSEASEA
    PPG
    16.8
    Proj
    255.8

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