He’s explosive with the ball in his hands, as indicated by his 21 rushes of 15-plus yards last year (tied for the fifth-highest in the class). Miller’s career of 3.14 yards per play ranks fourth best in the class. The bell cow rushed for nearly 1400 yards at 5-foot-11, 215 pounds (identical to Bijan Robinson), and his size is enticing in addition to the efficiency he displayed on a per-play basis at the college level. But with Evans gone in 2022, Miller was thrust into the RB1 role for the Horned Frogs, where he posted a career-high 23 percent dominator rating. Miller flashed talent in a limited sample size, leading the FBS in yards after contact per attempt (5.06) in 2021. Kendre Miller spent his first two seasons in a two-way platoon with Zach Evans before the latter transferred to Mississippi. Smith-Njigba should garner targets early and often in 2023. Last year he logged the second-lowest aDOT of his career and the lowest YAC per reception mark. Since 2019 he’s ranked top-12 in deep targets twice. The addition of Smith-Njigba can allow Lockett to return to stretching the field. Over the last four seasons, he’s never ranked higher than 36th in target per route run rate.

While I don’t want to take anything away from Lockett, he hasn’t been a high-end target earner. Regarding the subject of target share, Smith-Njigba can put those concerns to rest quickly and hit the ground running as the second option in this passing attack. With that said, I have a hard time believing the Seahawks burnt a first-round pick on a player they don’t plan to feature, so I believe they will run a ton of 11 personnel in 2023. In 2021 he was ninth in yards per route run and tied for first in PFF’s deep receiving grade (minimum 15 deep targets per PFF). Smith-Njigba gets typecast as a low aDOT player, but he has also shown the ability to win downfield. In 2021 he was first in yards per route run and first in PFF receiving grade (minimum 50 targets per PFF) while drawing a 22.7% target share alongside Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave. These are valid concerns, but before I push back against them, let’s discuss Smith-Njigba as a talent.

Since Jaxon Smith-Njigba was announced as the Seahawks’ pick in the NFL Draft, worries have been circulating about Seattle’s usage of three wide receiver sets and his target share with D.K.

12 team superflex mock draft