Smith-Njigba Sits Wednesday, and Seattle's Offense Has One More Thing to Watch

Jaxon Smith-Njigba was not on the practice field Wednesday, adding the receiver position to a list of offensive concerns that has been growing since training camp. No designation or timeline was attached to the absence from what's available, so it stays in the watch-it category for now rather than the worry-about-it one.

The timing is what makes it notable. The backfield has been unsettled for weeks — Zach Charbonnet remains out, and the Mixon experiment lasted less than a week before his physical ended it. Darnold has been managing his own availability. Smith-Njigba sitting out doesn't need to mean anything serious, but he was the one piece of the offense that stayed reliable through all of it. Last season he was Darnold's primary target, finishing with 1,992 yards and 12 touchdowns over 20 games. Losing him for any stretch changes the math considerably.

Rashid Shaheed is active on the injury report, and the depth chart behind Smith-Njigba is thin enough that a multi-game absence would force some uncomfortable decisions. For now it's one missed Wednesday practice, which happens. Worth checking Thursday's report.