Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba is on pace to break Calvin Johnson’s NFL record for receiving yards in a season. And Smith-Njigba is on pace to do it without even needing the 17th game of the season.
Through seven games this season, Smith-Njigba has 867 receiving yards. That’s a pace of 123.9 yards per game.
When Johnson set a new NFL record with 1,964 receiving yards in 2012, it was a 16-game season, so Johnson averaged 122.8 yards per game.
So if Smith-Njigba keeps at his current pace, he’ll break Johnson’s record in the 16th game of the season, when he would be at 1,982 games. Smith-Njigba could break Johnson’s record without even needing the benefit of the 17-game season.
Smith-Njigba’s 17-game pace is 2,106 yards, which would give him the only 2,000-yard receiving season in NFL history.
Last season Smith-Njigba was the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year, but this season he’s been even better. He’s on his way to what might be the best season any wide receiver has ever had.
Seahawks Clips
The defending Super Bowl champions looked like they could ride their defense to another title on Sunday night.
Seattle’s defense and receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba were the stars on Sunday night, as the Seahawks defeated the Chiefs 20-3.
Kansas City was held off-balance throughout the night, leading to one of the lowest-scoring outputs of the Mahomes era. The Seahawks held the Chiefs to just 11 first downs, 213 yards, and 3-11 on third down.
While no one had contained Kenneth Walker all year, the Seahawks were able to slow down their former running back. Walker rushed 14 times for 36 yards, averaging a paltry 2.6 yards per carry. He entered Sunday’s game averaging 6.3 over Kansas City’s first five contests.
Mahomes finished the game 19-of-33 for 165 yards with an interception, working out to a 58.3 passer rating. Mahomes has finished with a worse passer rating in just four other regular-season starts in his career.
As noted by the NBC broadcast, this was the first time the Chiefs did not even reach the red zone in a Mahomes start — including the postseason.
Tight end Travis Kelce led with four receptions for 44 yards. He moved into fifth place all-time in receptions, but that’s likely little consolation given the result.
On the other side, Sam Darnold finished 20-of-28 for 257 yards with a touchdown and an interception. That pick nearly led to Chiefs points at the end of the first half, but Harrison Butker’s 58-yard field goal attempt fell short.
That was one of two misses from Butker, who also sent a 45-yard attempt wide right midway through the fourth quarter. That would have put the Chiefs down by seven with 8:33 to go.
After the miss, Seattle put the game away with Emanuel Wilson’s 21-yard touchdown run.
The Seahawks finished with 24 first downs, 410 total yards, and 11-of-16 on third down.
Smith-Njigba set the pace, catching nine passes for 150 yards with a touchdown. The reigning AP offensive player of the year has registered at least 100 yards in six of his seven games so far this season, with five performances of at least 120 yards.
The game’s result leaves the Vikings as the lone unbeaten team entering Week 8, as the 49ers also lost to the Falcons earlier on Sunday.
Back above .500, the 4-3 Seahawks will host the 5-2 Bears next Monday night.
Now at 5-1, the Chiefs will be back on the road next week to face the 5-2 Broncos on Sunday afternoon.
The Chiefs have been mostly stymied on offense throughout Sunday night’s matchup with the Seahawks.
But the unit did make some history in the fourth quarter of the contest.
Tight end Travis Kelce moved into No. 5 all time in receptions with 1,103, passing Marvin Harrison.
He had tied Harrison (1,102) and Cris Carter (1,101) earlier in the contest.
Kelce has a long way to go to the next player on the list, as Jason Witten is at No. 4 with 1,228 career catches. Jerry Rice is atop the list (1,549), followed by Larry Fitzgerald (1,432), and Tony Gonzalez (1,325).
With 13:11 in the fourth quarter, quarterback Patrick Mahomes found Kelce over the middle on third-and-6 to move the chains. Kelce ended up taking the historic catch 19 yards.
With the reception, Kelce now has three receptions for 41 yards so far on Sunday.
The Chiefs trail Seattle 13-3 midway through the fourth quarter.
The Seahawks have an injury concern with one of their key weapons.
Seattle announced receiver/returner Rashid Shaheed is questionable to return with a knee injury.
Shaheed did not return the second-half kickoff, with Tory Horton performing those duties.
Shaheed had a 32-yard punt return during the first half.
UPDATE 10:35 p.m. ET: Shaheed has been downgraded to out. Additionally, running back Velus Jones Jr. is out with a hamstring injury.
At this point, Jaxon Smith-Njigba is just inevitable.
The reigning AP offensive player of the year made another outstanding play on Sunday, catching a 28-yard touchdown to put the Seahawks up 10-0 over the Chiefs late in the second quarter.
While Seattle and Kansas City had a chance to change it, the score remains 10-0 at halftime.
Smith-Njigba caught his touchdown in a one-on-one matchup with Chiefs rookie Mansoor Delane, who played it well. But Smith-Njigba was able to get the ball away from the cornerback to secure the score.
Smith-Njigba finished the first half with 129 yards on six catches.
Seattle’s touchdown came after an interception from Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs’ QB was being chased by Nick Emmanwori and let go an inaccurate pass on the left side that went right to Seahawks safety Ty Okada.
Mahomes has been pressured by Seattle’s defense throughout the night, with the unit keeping the signal-caller uncomfortable. He finished the first half 8-of-15 for 68 yards. The Chiefs were limited to just 92 total yards and five first downs in the first half. Kansas City was 0-of-4 on third down.
Kenneth Walker, the former Seahawk, has just 28 yards on nine carries so far.
The Chiefs’ only scoring chance came on the last snap of the half, after Sam Darnold tossed an interception on second-and-goal that was returned all the way to the Seattle 44. But Harrison Butker’s 58-yard field goal attempt was well short, keeping Kansas City scoreless.
Darnold had been playing well before his interception, going 13-of-18 for 178 yards before the pick — which was his last throw of the half. Seattle’s offense has registered 14 first downs, 251 yards, and is 7-of-9 on third down.
Via Josh Dubow of the Associated Press, the Chiefs have lost 38 consecutive games when held scoreless in the first half, including the postseason. Their last win was in the 1993 divisional round and the last regular-season victory was in Dec. 1991.
Seattle will receive the second-half kickoff.
The Seahawks will have a few of their key questionable players available, but they will also be playing with a different backup quarterback.
Safety Nick Emmanwori, linebacker DeMarcus Lawrence, and linebacker Uchenna Nwosu are all active after they were listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Chiefs.
But backup Drew Lock is inactive after he was questionable with a right elbow injury. While Lock will dress as the emergency third quarterback, second-year QB Jalen Milroe will serve as Seattle’s No. 2 behind Sam Darnold on Sunday.
Milroe has not appeared in a game yet in 2025. He was on the field for three games as a rookie in 2025.
Seattle’s inactives are Lock, running back Zach Charbonnet, linebacker Drake Thomas, linebacker Chazz Surratt, outside linebacker Connor O’Toole, guard Beau Stephens, and running back Robert Henry Jr.
For the Chiefs, receiver Rashee Rice, offensive tackle Jaylon Moore, quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, defensive back Jadon Canady, fullback Ben VanSumeren, and defensive end Jack Pybum are inactive.
With the Colts turning the page at the top of the front office — and possibly, in time, at the top of the coaching staff — the possibility of trading veteran players is on the table.
But with the deadline still 16 days away, and with most of three full weekends left to be played, it’s still too early to sell off contracts.
Via the Batman-and-Joker turned Batman-and-Robin of ESPNFL, the plan is to see whether the Colts can improve their 2-4 record in the coming three games against the Vikings, Jaguars, and Cowboys before deciding whether to trade away certain players.
The biggest name of the bunch belongs to running back Jonathan Taylor. Per the carefully (but also a little clunkily) worded report: “The Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos and Vikings are among the teams that have, or are expected to, pondered the possibility of a trade for the star running back, according to sources.”
That feels like an effort by the Colts to maximize the market, in an effort to maximize the return. The more teams that are at the table, the more the Colts will get for their biggest star.
The Colts gave Taylor a new contract in the offseason, a two-year, $44 million extension. A trade would result in a 2027 cap charge of $10 million, and it would shift the final two years of his current deal to his next team, at a compensation package of $16.02 million for 2027 and $17.98 million in 2028. The deal also has $1 million in incentives attached to each of the final two seasons.
The Colts don’t have a first-round draft pick in 2027, thanks to the Sauce Gardner trade. Surely, they’d want at least that much for Taylor, especially after giving him a $15 million signing bonus when Taylor signed his extension.
Of the teams that were listed, the Vikings, Broncos, and Seahawks make the most sense. Each is a contender with an offense that would benefit from the presence of an elite tailback. The Packers, who are getting Josh Jacobs back today, make the least sense; adding them to the list seems to be nothing more than an effort to get the Vikings to give up a little more in an effort to ensure he won’t land with a viable division rival.
Other potential trade candidates mentioned by the report include veteran defensive tackle DeForest Buckner (who could go back to the 49ers, who traded him to the Colts), guard Quenton Nelson (who’s in the last year of his deal), and defensive tackle Grover Stewart.
Whatever the Colts do, or don’t do, at the trade deadline will impact the deck of cards the next G.M. has. Without knowing who the next G.M. will be, it’s impossible to know whether that person would prefer to have Taylor moving forward or whatever the Colts can get for him.
Regardless — and this is true for any team thinking about trading players before the deadline — the remaining weeks will be a factor. Some teams won’t be ready to make their moves until Week 9 has ended; in some cases, the final decision hinges on winning or losing in the last game before the window closes.
The Chiefs made a change at running back ahead of Sunday’s game against the Seahawks.
They have placed Brashard Smith on injured reserve and signed Jaydn Ott to the active roster off of the practice squad. Smith had been ruled out on Friday due to a hamstring injury and he will now miss at least the next four games.
Ott signed with the Chiefs after going undrafted out of Oklahoma this year. He has not appeared in any regular season games.
The Chiefs also announced that they have activated linebacker Cooper McDonald off of injured reserve. McDonald played in Week 1, but has been out with a knee injury.
Wide receiver Justin Watson was elevated from the practice squad on a temporary basis to round out the day’s moves.
The Seahawks sent plenty of mixed signals this week regarding the question of whether running back Zach Charbonnet would play on Sunday. On Friday, the decision came.
He will not play.
Charbonnet, who suffered a torn ACL in the divisional-round win over the 49ers in January, returned to practice on October 1. He was moved to the active roster this week, and he fully participated in practice on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
“Zach is going to have a full week’s worth of reps, so that’s exciting,” coach Mike Macdonald told reporters on Monday. “There is a possibility that you can see him on Sunday in some capacity, so that is exciting.”
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Macdonald’s explanation created the impression that Charbonnet not playing on Sunday was the plan all along.
“We’re going along with the plan,” Macdonald said. “Plan was to get a great week’s worth of work and see where we’re at. We’re going to take it into next week. It’s part of the plan. Zach’s doing great and we’ll go into next week and see how it goes.”
The situation doesn’t violate the injury-reporting rules, even if the Seahawks arguably created the impression Charbonnet would play.
Actually, the Seahawks could have milked the uncertainty for two more days. Charbonnet could have been listed as questionable on Friday, with the decision announced on Sunday that he won’t be among the active players.
Still, it feels odd. Especially since Ian Rapoport of ESPNFL said on Friday’s Pat McAfee Show that Rapoport expects Charbonnet to “play and play a lot” on Sunday night. (The clip apparently was deleted from Twitter, but it’s still in the YouTube version of the episode.)
At a time when more and more fans are skeptical of the impact of gambling and prediction-market influences on the flow of information (and/or misinformation), this is another tangible piece of grist for the tinfoil-hat mill.
Former Rams running back Lawrence McCutcheon died Friday, the team announced. He was 76.
McCutcheon played eight seasons with the Rams (1972-79) and was a five-time Pro Bowl selection and second-team All-Pro honoree.
“It is with great sadness that we share the passing of our husband, brother, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, Lawrence McCutcheon,” the McCutcheon family said in a statement. “Clutch passed away on Oct. 23 with family at his bedside following a long, courageous battle with Parkinson’s disease.
“Through a decade-long playing career and another 32 years in the Rams’ front office, Clutch earned the respect and admiration of teammates, opposing players, colleagues and fans alike. Clutch will be missed and remembered forever.
“We are thankful to those in our community who have reached out with love and support. In lieu of flowers, we ask that those wishing to honor Clutch please donate to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research.”
McCutcheon also played for Denver, Seattle and Buffalo, retiring after the 1981 season.
He finished his career with 1,521 carries for 6,578 yards and 26 touchdowns, adding 198 catches for 1,799 yards and 13 touchdowns. McCutcheon played 109 games with 82 starts.
“The Los Angeles Rams are deeply saddened by the passing of Lawrence McCutcheon,” the team said in a statement. “His impact on this organization spanned generations, and he embodied what it means to be a Ram. A five-time Pro Bowl running back and once the franchise’s all-time leading rusher, he later served in our front office as a scout and director of player personnel. His legacy is woven into the fabric of our team.
“We extend our heartfelt condolences to the McCutcheon family as we celebrate a life that gave so much to the Rams and to our game.”
