In the second matchup of tonight’s Monday Night Football doubleheader, the Seattle Seahawks will host the Houston Texans to close down the Week 7 NFL slate. Jaxon Smith-Njigba and company have exceeded early expectations and are off to a 4-2 start to the year. They will take on a Texans team that has dropped three of their first five games but arrives on additional rest following the Week 6 bye.
Looking at the odds on DraftKings Sportsbook, the Seahawks enter as three-point favorites and hold -170 odds on the moneyline. The Texans have +142 odds of getting the outright victory, with the game total set at 41.5 points.
There are plenty of ways to get involved in the action outside of backing a side or total. This article will look at my top Jaxon Smith-Njigba prop bets ahead of tonight’s Week 7 Monday Night Football matchup.
Best Jaxon Smith-Njigba Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Jaxon Smith-Njigba Over 88.5 Receiving Yards (-113)
It is difficult to have a better start to the season than what Jaxon Smith-Njigba has put on display. He leads the entire NFL with 696 receiving yards, even with most players having one additional game under their belt due to this being a Monday night matchup. He has pulled in 42 of his 56 targets, is averaging 116.0 yards per game, and has three touchdowns to his name thus far. Smith-Njigba has had 79 or more yards in every game so far this season and tallied 100+ yards through the air in four of the six games. He has only fallen short of the 88.5 receiving yard prop line once this season and is coming off his best performance of the season with eight receptions for 162 yards and a touchdown last week.
Houston is an interesting defensive unit to evaluate. They are coming off back-to-back impressive performances in which they held opponents to 207 total yards or fewer and just 10 combined points — shutting out Tennessee completely. These strong defensive showings propelled them to their only two victories of the season. But it also is worth noting that these successful performances came against a Cam Ward-led Titans team and the Baltimore Ravens with Cooper Rush under center. Still, the Texans rank fifth in passing yards allowed, have surrendered the fewest passing touchdowns this season, and rank second in the league in EPA per pass play. You cannot dispute the raw numbers, but the context of these is important, and the metrics have at least partially been aided by a friendly schedule. Puka Nacua shredded this Texans’ secondary for 130 yards in the opening week — evidence that it can be done again.
Look for Sam Darnold and the Seahawks to continue to lean on their identity as a pass-first offense and for Smith-Njigba to be a major factor in it. He has received nine or more targets in four of six games this season and tallied a reception of 36+ yards in every game this year. Darnold has shown immense trust in his new top wide receiver, and this will continue to be the case tonight. Houston will have some success generating pressure with their front seven, but count on Darnold to to put the ball in Smith-Njigba’s hands and allow him to make plays. Expect the Texans’ defensive metrics to slip as the season progresses and for this Seattle passing attack to put a dent in them. The volume of targets the Ohio State product has seen is too much to overlook, and count on him to surpass 88.5 receiving yards for the sixth time already this season.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba Anytime Touchdown (+135)
The high volume of receptions has not quite translated to the end zone yet, but this outlook could be changing for Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He has three touchdowns on the season, with each coming across the past four weeks. Looking at the wider scale of his career, he has 13 career touchdowns across 40 games played. But he checks an intriguing box of being involved in the red zone attack as well as being capable of breaking free for a long score from any place on the field.
This proved to be the case last week as Smith-Njigba registered a career-long 61 yards. He leads all wide receivers in target and air yard share, with 11 receptions and 402 yards tallied on throws of 20+ yards down the field. This is 100 more yards than any other player in the league at this stage of the season. Smith-Njigba is performing at a high level and has tallied 16 catches for 294 yards and two scores over his past two games.
Seattle is going to need some sort of scoring production if they are to get their desired result in this game, and be confident this will involve the man who has been the foundation of their entire attack. This will be a major test for this Houston defense, and count on Darnold and Smith-Njigba winning this battle. Expect the Seahawks’ pass-oriented attack to serve as a bit of a wake-up call to the Texans and for Smith-Njigba to lead the charge with his fourth touchdown of the season. Getting +135 odds for a player as heavily involved as the star wide receiver is great value, and look for Smith-Njigba to continue cementing his place as one of the NFL’s most elite pass catchers.
