Coming off of their Week 6 bye, the Houston Texans have had some extra time to prepare for the Seattle Seahawks, and considering how well third-year wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba has played during the 2025 season, they may need it.
Despite the fact that the Seahawks rank dead last in the NFL in pass rate (50.3%) through six weeks of action, Smith-Njigba leads the league in receiving by a whopping 80 yards heading into Week 7. JSN is already over halfway to the Seahawks single-season receiving yardage record, and he's on pace to finish the year with 1,972 receiving yards, which would be 8 more than Calvin Johnson's record-setting 2012 campaign.
This Monday night will be the most difficult test of the young season for Jaxon Smith-Njigba, as the Texans defense has been rock solid against the pass this year. Through six weeks, Houston has limited opposing quarterbacks to the lowest passer rating and the 3rd-lowest completion percentage in the NFL, and at this point in the season, they are one of just two teams in the league -- along with the Los Angeles Chargers -- that has more interceptions than passing touchdowns allowed.
So sure, the Texans secondary may be able to make life difficult for the league's leading receiver, but DeMeco Ryans knows his defense will have its hands full against this emerging superstar wideout as well.
"JSN has done an outstanding job this year for Seattle," Ryans said during his weekly press conference. "Darnold has found a nice target to throw to. He's made that entire offense go. Whether you're covering him or not, he's making explosive plays. Game after game, he continuously shows up. JSN, he's definitely having a Pro Bowl caliber year. He's done an outstanding job."
Can the Texans defense keep Jaxon Smith-Njigba in check?
The best test-case for this week's matchup would be going back to Week 1, when the Texans faced Puka Nacua and the Los Angeles Rams. Nacua, who is 2nd in receiving yards this season, caught 10 balls on 11 targets for 130 yards (and no touchdowns) in a 14-9 Rams win. But while Nacua ate plenty, the rest of the Rams passing attack was held in check. To everyone else, Matthew Stafford completed 11 of his 18 attempts for 115 yards (and one touchdown).
This may end up being how the final stat line looks for the Seahawks offense on Monday night, and if that's the case, it means the Texans defense will have done its job with JSN. Smith-Njigba is averaging 16 yards per reception this season and killing teams with explosive plays, so if the Texans manage to hold him to just 13 yards per catch and keep him out of the end zone, that can be considered a favorable outcome for Houston's defense.
What may end up being the most interesting thing to track with this matchup is where Jaxon Smith-Njigba is aligned on a down-to-down basis. According to NFL.com's Kevin Patra, JSN has worked out of the slot on only 20% of his snaps thus far this season, which represents a steep drop from each of the last two seasons (69% and 83.6%).
While Smith-Njigba is clearly comfortable being moved around and working outside more often, a larger percentage of snaps in the slot against the Texans would mean tim away from All-Pro cornerback Derek Stingley Jr., who has played just two slot snaps through Houston's first five games.
This will be just one of the many intriguing game-within-the-game sort of chess matches to keep an eye on this coming Monday.