SEATTLE -- As Jaxon Smith-Njigba slogged his way through an underwhelming start to the season, slowed by a summer wrist fracture that was still healing and held back by a curtailed role in the Seattle Seahawks' offense, the feeling expressed by teammates was that it was only a matter of time before the rookie wide receiver broke out.
Smith-Njigba has yet to explode with the type of monster performance that typified his sophomore season at Ohio State, but if it wasn't clear last week that the 20th overall pick is now a viable threat for Geno Smith, then it should be clear after his performance in the Seahawks' 20-10 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
Smith-Njigba caught four passes on seven targets for 63 yards and his first NFL touchdown. Jake Bobo delivered a nearly identical stat line with four catches for 61 yards and a highlight-reel score as Seattle's rookie receivers stepped up with DK Metcalf on the sideline with a hip injury.
JAKE BOBO HAS JUST MADE THE MOST INSANE TOUCHDOWN CATCH YOU'LL SEE TODAY!
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) October 22, 2023
📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/lZaGVNieAE
"We were waiting for Jax to get going," said Bobo, who led all Seattle receivers with 45 offensive snaps against Arizona. "Obviously we knew we needed to get him the ball. We did today, so now you guys are seeing what we see every day in practice. But with 14 out, we knew we were going to have to step up. Obviously he'll be back soon, he'll be back healthy. I was just looking to semi-fill his big shoes and it felt like we did a little bit of that today."
Smith-Njigba looked all summer like a player poised to be a difference maker from the get-go, especially on third down as a chain-moving slot man. But his progress was halted when he broke a bone in his left wrist in the Seahawks' second preseason game. Smith-Njigba had surgery and made it back by the opener but had minimal impact over the first four games, catching 12 passes for 42 yards on 20 targets.
"It's been difficult," he said of playing so soon after wrist surgery, "but it's been feeling a lot better these last weeks. Definitely thankful for that."
Another factor in his slow start was the trickle-down effect of Seattle losing starting tackles Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas to injuries in the opener. Smith-Njigba averaged only 33 snaps over the first four games as offensive coordinator Shane Waldron favored packages with multiple tight ends -- as opposed to a third receiver -- to help out their backup linemen in pass protection.
It didn't seem like a coincidence that with Cross back at left tackle last week against the Cincinnati Bengals, Smith-Njigba played 53 snaps and had his most productive game to that point with four catches for 48 yards. That would've been his breakout performance had Smith seen the receiver running open towards the end zone for what would've been the go-ahead, 30-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
With Metcalf sidelined Sunday for the first time in his career, Smith-Njigba started alongside Tyler Lockett and scored his elusive first touchdown. It came on Seattle's second possession, when Smith found him wide open up the seam on a play-action fake for a 28-yard catch.
Bobo's 18-yard touchdown catch had a much higher degree of difficulty.
He barely had a half step on cornerback Starling Thomas V while running down the right sideline, but in an apparent sign of the trust he's already built with his quarterback, Smith gave him a chance. Bobo rewarded Smith's faith and perfect throw by making a leaping catch, barely getting his second foot in bounds. Officials reversed it to a touchdown upon review after Pete Carroll challenged the initial ruling of an incomplete pass.
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, the throw had just a 15.9% completion probability, which takes into account factors such as separation between receiver and defender, pass distance, time to throw and field location. That made it the most improbable touchdown pass of the season.
"Phenomenal footwork," Smith said. "I think now we can say Jake's probably up there with Tyler when it comes down to the toe-drag swag. That was a great job by him and obviously an awesome call and great protection all around as well."
Bobo is ascending towards folk hero status in Seattle. The undrafted receiver with an unfathomably slow 40 time -- a 4.99 in wet conditions at UCLA's pro day -- now has two touchdowns over his first six games and three third-down conversions over the past two weeks.
"There's no catch that he can't make," Carroll said. "There's nothing he can't do with catching the ball and using his body in that fashion. In a short time, six months of watching the guy, I totally trust him."
NFL teams will always give considerable weight to a receiver's speed, but Bobo is showing that a slow 40 time doesn't have to be a deal breaker if they have enough compensating factors like savvy route-running, sure hands and tenacious blocking.
"I think it's just a really cool story for guys that don't get drafted," linebacker Bobby Wagner said. "If you work hard and you do what you need to do, he's a guy that can show you that you can make it."
According to the Seahawks, Bobo and Smith-Njigba became the team's first pair of rookies to catch touchdown passes in the same game since Lockett and running back Thomas Rawls in 2015. No two Seattle rookie receivers had ever done it until Sunday.
"It's great for us," Carroll said. "Here we are, coming around to the halfway point and having the pups play like that. They can play like starters, and they did."
Thus capped an eventful week for Seahawks receivers.
Before Metcalf was ruled a game-day inactive because of a hip injury he suffered against Cincinnati, he made national headlines on Wednesday when he said he wouldn't change the way he plays despite mounting scrutiny over his penalties. Metcalf struck that defiant tone after Carroll had essentially called him out in the team's "Tell the Truth Monday" meeting in order to underscore the importance of curbing the penalty issue.
On Sunday, Carroll volunteered a defense of Metcalf seemingly aimed at shooting down any notion that the receiver was suddenly disinclined to play through pain like he had been doing since he injured his ribs in Week 2.
"He's hurting," Carroll said. "If he could have played, he'd have played. Don't for a second think -- don't think for a second that he's looking for a way out of this thing. That's not him at all. He's sick that he couldn't play and he tried. ... He's played the last couple of weeks under tremendous duress and played well in those circumstances. It's just added up too much and he couldn't get it done. If he can get back, he'll be back."
Carroll sounded hopeful on Monday that Metcalf could be back for this week's game against the Cleveland Browns (4:05 p.m. ET, FOX). If not, Smith-Njigba and Bobo showed Sunday they can pick up the slack.