A lot of things have gone right for the Seattle Seahawks on their road to the Super Bowl, but all of them have been due to the coaches and players pulling the strings. It wasn’t an easy road through a brutal NFC field, yet Seattle ran through the San Francisco 49ers then edged out the resilient Los Angeles Rams.
Seattle didn’t need major contributions from the offense against the Niners, but they certainly did against the Rams; that’s when Jaxson Smith-Njigba, like he has all season, showed up in a big way. “JSN” exploded for 153 yards and a touchdown on 10 receptions, a stat line that was seen at a stunning rate throughout the regular season.
Naturally, Smith-Njigba is considered an x-factor for the Super Bowl. His epic season has rightly caught the attention of Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce, who spoke at length about the wide receiver in their Super Bowl previews episode of “New Heights“. In order to get the best firsthand account of JSN, the Kelce brothers brought his teammate in the wide receiver room, Cooper Kupp, on the show.
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Cooper Kupp jokingly claims he “built” JSN into stardom
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end and former Philadelphia Eagles center couldn’t help but laugh out loud when Kupp took all of the credit for the way Smith-Njigba has developed: “I basically have built Jaxon myself”.
Kupp was being sarcastic, later admitting that JSN was primed for a big season once the veteran saw him during practices leading up to the 2025 season. Clearly, there was something special brewing, and Smith-Njigba has fully delivered on what Kupp noticed during OTAs.
Kupp has been in a similar position to Smith-Njigba before. During the Los Angeles Rams‘ Super Bowl run in 2021, Kupp put together a monstrous season that saw him nearly eclipse 2,000 yards in the regular season. He then went on a tear in the playoffs, culminating his epic season with a Super Bowl ring and Super Bowl MVP award.
It would be poetic to see Smith-Njigba cap off his season in a similar fashion, while Kupp helps him do it as his teammate.
