In the 2024 NFL offseason, a clip of Jaxon Smith-Njigba — the Seattle Seahawks’ former No. 20 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft — went viral after he awkwardly worded what seemed to be an endorsement of the Seattle Seahawks’ former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. Smith-Njigba was teammates with the Chicago Bears’ former quarterback Justin Fields, and members of the CHGO Bears team wanted to know what kind of OC they were getting when they hired Waldron. Njigba fumbled over his words, eventually becoming a meme over the viral clip.
And on Los Angeles Chargers receiver Laviska Shenault’s podcast — Athlete’s Aura — Smith-Njigba tried to clear the air on his comments about Waldron.
However, it didn’t go as well as he might’ve liked on the second attempt of endorsing his former offensive coordinator.
“I would love to clear it up,” Smith-Njigba said, holding back a smile. “Bruh, I’m in Vegas, bruh. That’s everything you really need to know. But I’m in Vegas. I’m doing a lot of appearances, I’m doing a lot of interviews, and I’m everywhere. I blame my people for not letting me know what I was walking into, sadly. And then I walked in, did a little interview. Like, ‘Oh, y’all boys from Chicago?’ I didn’t really know what was going on in the interview, to be honest.
“Like, I didn’t know if it was live, I didn’t know if this is a recording, but my mind was everywhere. My mind was in Vegas, and I haven’t talked about the season at all. Then, they hit me with a Shane Waldron question. I’m like, ‘Woah!’ You know, my first year, bruh, I didn’t want to disrespect the man. There should be no disrespect towards him, you know what I’m saying? I mean, I really do think he was a good offensive coordinator.”
This is where the interview had a bit of déjà vu from the last instance, as Jaxon Smith-Njigba just stared at Shenault after saying Shane Waldron was a good offensive coordinator, creating a bit of an awkward — yet, hilarious — silence.
Shenault busted out laughing after maybe a second of silence, and Smith-Njigba likely felt a similar feeling when CHGO interviewed him in 2024.
“Okay, don’t put it in like that,” JSN said, followed by laughs of his own. “No, no, no. But I did think we had a good season, but — me as a competitor — I’m like, we didn’t make the playoffs. I didn’t even feel like we threw the ball well. Like, I just wanted more, and we didn’t succeed to that. We didn’t get to that. And so, no one had asked me how I felt after the season, and that was like the first time, so I was just caught off guard, and I knew I couldn’t say what I wanted to say for real.
“But, I had a pleasure of working with Shane Waldron because it allowed me to experience the NFL. He was my first offensive coordinator, and I caught 60-something balls. Overall, I’m thankful for my experience. I’m thankful that he was there. I hope he does great things in the future, but yeah I was just caught off guard, bruh. I was caught off guard with the interview and the question, and I didn’t think I said anything bad at all.”
After the two went back and forth for a second or two, Shenault said the viral clip was funny to him, and Smith-Njigba agreed — somewhat.
“Yeah, it was hilarious — to some.”
Now, this clip is clearly something that the Seahawks’ receiver has carried with him since that interview.
While he was apparently just caught off guard by the questions about his former offensive coordinator, the sentiment seemed somewhat similar in his re-do attempt of endorsing Waldron after his time with the Seahawks.
Smith-Njigba tied it up at the end of his statement, but there still seems to be a lingering idea that the two didn’t see eye-to-eye.
And with Shane Waldron getting fired by the Bears after just nine games with the team, maybe Ryan Poles and Co. should’ve consulted Jaxon Smith-Njigba and the Seahawks before hiring him in the first place.
