The Seattle Seahawks wasted no time taking care of the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year, extending superstar wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba on a record-setting deal that makes him the highest paid receiver in league history.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Smith-Njigba’s extension is four years and $168.6 million, with $120 million in guaranteed money. On the surface, JSN is making over $40 million/year on that extension, exceeding the previous mark set by the Cincinnati Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase.
Dig a little deeper and there’s a key point made by Schefter:
With this new agreement, the two-time Pro Bowler is contractually tied to Seattle through the 2031 season. The Seahawks already exercised Smith-Njigba’s fifth-year option for 2027 — worth approximately $23.9 million — last week.
Smith-Njigba’s extension does not immediately replace the fifth-year option; the big part of his contract (outside of the guarantees) won’t begin until the 2028 season.
Another way to put it: If you factor in his fifth-year option of $23,852,000, the hefty part of his deal from 2027-2031 lowers the average per year below $40 million. The 2026 money makes JSN’s current contract essentially a six-year deal and a lot nicer looking than the initial sticker shock. Friend of Field Gulls and Seahawksdraftblog.com contributor Curtis Allen explains:
We also now have more details on JSN’s contract courtesy of Albert Breer.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio has a bit more on the structural breakdown:
It’s a total payout over six years of $195.167996 million, which works out to an average annual value from signing of $32.527 million. Factoring in the $26.567996 [million] that was due to be paid under the prior two years of the contract, it’s a new-money average of $42.15 million.
The full guarantee at signing is $69.13 million, with $120.067 million guaranteed for injury at signing.
The contract pays out $36.25 million in 2026, with another $32.63 million paid in 2027. Adding in the $19.937 million to be paid in 2028, and JSN will have $88.817 million over three years. That technically gives him $62.24 million in the first new year of the deal.
Here’s how it’s laid out on OverTheCap:
Note the percentage of the salary cap that JSN is taking up at the moment. It’s hard to definitively project the salary cap too far ahead, but for all the concerns about a non-QB commanding so much money, he’s currently expected to still be below 10% when the bulk of his extension starts in 2028. His cap number more than doubles from 2027 (his fifth-year option) to nearly $33 million the following year.
For perspective, JSN’s 2028 cap number is tentatively eighth highest among all NFL receivers (although I imagine Brandon Aiyuk will drop off from that list whenever he’s released). Elite talent costs elite money, and the fact that this deal was agreed to this quickly tells you how drama-free this clearly was. JSN has secured the bag, while the Seahawks have secured the long-term future of their superstar receiver through his age 30 season.
