Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase questioned on his podcast why defenses do not seem to double-team Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba, saying a linebacker and cornerback doubled him against Houston. Smith-Njigba had nine catches, 155 yards and three touchdowns against Arizona.
At this point in 2026, Smith-Njigba had nearly twice as many targets and receptions as Chase; targets per route run were 0.44 for Smith-Njigba and 0.18 for Chase. Those figures do not establish how often either was double-covered: schemes can pair a cornerback and safety without both directly following the receiver.
