Seahawks will have Jaxon Smith-Njigba vs. Broncos but not Drake Thomas

Tim Booth, The Seattle Times on Oct 14, 2026

Published in Football

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RENTON, Wash. — Jaxon Smith-Njigba is in. Drake Thomas is out. And if this were a normal week, there might be some talk of Zach Charbonnet being available.

As it stands, the Seahawks will have their top wide receiver in Smith-Njigba available for Thursday night’s game in Denver despite a sore ankle coming out of last Sunday’s loss to the 49ers.

Smith-Njigba’s ankle is good enough to go. The same can’t be said for Thomas, the starting linebacker, who injured his ankle in the second quarter against the 49ers and played through the injury only to have the short turnaround time between Sunday and Thursday become too short of a recovery window to be available against the Broncos.

Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said he was uncertain whether Thomas would miss more than this week. Tyrice Knight will start in Thomas’ place.

“We’re confident that (Knight will) play great and standard remains the same on defense,” Macdonald said. “I know he’s excited for the opportunity and we’re excited to see him play.”

Knight has played just a handful of defensive snaps this season. He started four games last year — the first three of the 2025 season and later in the year when Ernest Jones IV was out.

Smith-Njigba was a bit of a question after tweaking his ankle against the 49ers, although he missed only a handful of plays throughout the game. He was listed as limited in the estimated practice participation on Monday and Tuesday but was a full participant as the Seahawks held their most extensive practice of the week before leaving for Denver.

Having Smith-Njigba available is hugely significant considering the share of the offense he’s carrying for the Seahawks. A year after winning the NFL Offensive Player of the Year award, he has 613 total yards receiving, rushing and passing, through the first five games. His 583 yards receiving leads the NFL, as does his 15.8 yards per touch.

In terms of raw yards from scrimmage, Smith-Njigba’s 599 is almost double the second-most on the roster, the 301 yards from Emanuel Wilson. The Seahawks have talked about finding more distribution within the passing game, but for now it’s been a lot of Smith-Njigba and not much elsewhere.

Perhaps surprisingly, Smith-Njigba is ahead of the pace he had through five games last season. Last year, Smith-Njigba had 34 catches for 534 yards and two TDs going into Week 6. This season, it’s a few more catches (37), more yards (583) and several more times (7) finding the end zone.

Defensive tackle Leonard Williams was also dealing with an ankle injury suffered in the win over the Chargers two weeks ago, but was also off the injury report for Thursday's game.

“Those guys, they're ready to play. Look good,” Macdonald said. “So on the short week, I think it's unfortunate we lost a couple of guys — Drake out of the game and the guys that are still out — but we’re in a good spot.”

Thomas had five tackles and a forced fumble in the loss to the 49ers despite leaving late in the first half with the ankle injury. He returned just after halftime and played the entire second half.

“He’s a tough cookie. Just leave it at that, but tough guy,” Macdonald said.

While Charbonnet looked very close to being ready while doing some pre-practice drills off to the side on Wednesday, the Seahawks decided to stick with their plan and not rush him back for this week. Macdonald made mention that it’s still only been nine months since Charbonnet was injured in the NFC divisional playoff game against San Francisco and surgery didn’t take place until after the Super Bowl.

“He looks tremendous. Again, working through it on how we’re going to handle the situation," Macdonald said. Right now, our focus is on playing a game. He’s not playing in this game. He’s going to be cheering us on and he’ll move forward. He’s not even at nine months, guys. ... It’s pretty remarkable we’re even having this conversation.”

The Seahawks have until the middle of next week to activate Charbonnet off injured reserve before his 21-day practice window closes. Otherwise, he would remain on IR for the entire season.

Velus Jones Jr. was signed from the practice squad to the 53-man roster for additional depth at running back on Wednesday. Irv Charles, who had just been activated from injured reserve to the 53-man roster, was released but subsequently signed to the practice squad and could be elevated for Thursday’s game.