JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It's time to start talking about Jaxon Smith-Njigba as one of the best wide receivers in the NFL.
Actually, it might have been time last season, when he went from good to great with a second-year jump that resulted in 1,130 receiving yards, good for 10th most in the NFL at the position.
Or after the second game of this season, when he topped 100 yards for a second straight week and helped the Seattle Seahawks put away the Pittsburgh Steelers with a 43-yard catch in the closing minutes, showing his penchant for clutch plays as well as his ability to stretch the field.
Or even last week, when he continued his scorching start with 132 yards and a touchdown in a loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
With eight more catches for 162 yards and another score in the Seahawks' 20-12 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday at EverBank Stadium, Smith-Njigba's latest huge game should leave no question he belongs in the conversation of the league's elite receivers.
"Absolutely," Seattle safety Coby Bryant said. "He does it every week. He doesn't say too much. He goes out, [he's] consistent in who he is. He's definitely the best, in my opinion."
The best?
"The best," Bryant confirmed.
Puka Nacua, Ja'Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson and others might like a word, but there's no debate over which player leads the NFL in receiving through six weeks. Smith-Njigba now tops the list with 696 yards, the most in any six-game span in Seahawks history, according to ESPN Research.
He has done it by topping 90 yards five times and finishing with at least 79 yards in all six games, so far avoiding the clunker that even the best receivers turn in on occasion thanks to a good defense or simply a bad day at the stadium. His 42 catches are tied for fourth most with Chase.
"It's not an easy thing to do what he's been doing knowing that we come into games with opportunities for him to get the ball at all three levels, and defenses know that he's going to be a target," said fellow Seattle wideout Cooper Kupp, a former triple crown winner who knows how hard it is for receivers to produce big numbers every week.
"To consistently win over and over again when a defense, you know, is planning on trying to take him out of a game, it speaks volumes. It just shows the ability in the route running and being able to understand the offense well enough to be able to move around and be in different spots. He's doing a really good job. He's a really good football player."
The 20th draft pick in 2023, Smith-Njigba had a solid rookie season with 628 yards and four touchdowns. He led the Seahawks in receiving last season as DK Metcalf missed two games then took over as their unquestioned WR1 this past offseason after Metcalf was traded to the Steelers.
Metcalf's departure, the Seahawks' signing of Kupp as their WR2 and their short-lived experiment with speedster Marquez Valdes-Scantling all meant that Smith-Njigba was going to have to be more of a deep threat than he previously had been, having operated mostly out of the slot his first two seasons.
And he has.
His 61-yard touchdown on a post route in the second quarter Sunday was the latest example of Smith-Njigba taking the top off defenses despite not having elite speed. It was his third score of the season and his league-high sixth catch on a throw that traveled at least 30 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
"We got a certain look where I'm kind of alerting the post on that and was able to just throw it up and Jax made a great play tracking it," Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold said. "That was something that we've worked on in OTAs, training camp, even this week in practice, and we made it come to life in the game."
The Seahawks needed everything they got from Smith-Njigba on a day in which their run game again failed to mount a consistent threat, with Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet combining for only 58 yards on 22 carries.
Smith-Njigba's only real blemish came when he spun the ball in celebration after a 20-yard catch in the third quarter, drawing a penalty for taunting.
"I have to be better," he said. "I've got to know the rules. I was kind of just juiced up. It was a great play, a great ball by Sam, and just kind of feeling it a little bit. But I've got to have my head on straight there."
At this rate, Smith-Njigba is on pace to break Metcalf's single-season franchise record of 1,303 receiving yards before the calendar turns to December. Smith-Njigba also is on pace to shatter his own club record from last season of 100 catches, which he shares with Tyler Lockett.
No wonder Smith-Njigba's teammates are describing him as one of the league's top receivers.
"It feels good that my teammates have confidence in me," he said, "and I definitely have it in myself to go out there and dominate."