The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks will feature numerous individual matchups when Super Bowl LX kicks off on Sunday.
None may impact the game more than two Texas natives in Seahawks superstar wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba going up against Patriots star cornerback Christian Gonzalez. Smith-Njigba, a Nacogdoches, Texas, native, won the NFL Offensive Player of the Year award, and Gonzalez, a Carrollton, Texas, native, is a rising star among cornerbacks.
“He’s a great guy and elite defender,” Smith-Njigba told reporters on Feb. 3, referring to Gonzalez. “Very well-rounded cornerback, can do a lot of things and plays the game really well.”
“It’s a lot of respect and is going to be a great match-up,” Smith-Njigba added.
Gonzalez, the 6-foot-1 corner has great length and excels in pass coverage. He had 10 pass deflections in the regular season and 69 tackles.
Smith-Njigba was a prep star at Rockwall before he starred at Ohio State from 2020 to 2022. The Seahawks took him with the No. 20 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, and Smith-Njigba has been a star since with two Pro Bowl selections and an All-Pro first team selection.
This season, Smith-Njigba took things to another level with 119 receptions for 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns. It only made Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold’s job easier in his first year with the team.
“There’s a lot of reasons why Jax is a special player,” Darnold told NBC on Feb. 4. “It starts with his football knowledge and football IQ, his feeling that he has for certain coverages. He’s never just going to fly in there and run a route exactly how it’s drawn on paper. He always puts his own spin on it, which can sometimes drive coaches a little crazy.”
Darnold had Justin Jefferson to throw to the year before with the Minnesota Vikings and produced a career year and a 14–3 record. This season, Darnold did more of the same and took things further with Smith-Njigba’s help.
“He’s so friendly [to throw to],” Darnold said. “I always understand when he’s going to come out of a route. I can play with anticipation with a guy like that.” Darnold also highlighted a physical trait that often goes unnoticed.
“He’s a lot harder to tackle than people realize,” Darnold added. “He has a low center of gravity. He’s tough to bring down.”
That will be Gonzalez’s task: to get to Smith-Njigba’s low center of gravity and/or make plays on the ball. Veteran Patriots defensive back Carlton Davis III is confident Gonzalez can get the job done.
“We’re going to have ‘Gonzo’ follow him,” Davis told Tyler Dunne of the Go Long podcast. “Obviously, he’ll motion and I’ll probably see him a couple of times.”
A former prep star at The Colony, Gonzalez went on to have a strong collegiate career at Colorado and Oregon before the Patriots took him with the No. 17 pick in the 2023 draft. Gonzalez has made one Pro Bowl and earned All-Pro second team honors amid three interceptions, 24 pass deflections, and 145 tackles in his career.
“He’s a real cool, calm, collected kind of guy,” Davis said. “He’s always been chill. He’s got a lot of poise.”
Gonzalez will need just that with a strong playoff performer in Smith-Njigba, who has 13 catches for 172 yards and two touchdowns in the postseason. It could be more as the Seahawks quickly put away the San Francisco 49ers in the Divisional Round, but needed a shootout against the Los Angeles Rams.
“Can I put three guys on him?” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald asked reporters on Feb. 3 when questioned on how he would defend Smith-Njigba.
As for Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, who game-plans for Gonzalez, the first-year Patriots coach expects a variety of looks. Vrabel’s defense has enjoyed success against top receivers this season, but he recognizes this is a unique challenge.
“I just think it’s a balance. Obviously, they’re gonna target him, rightfully so, he’s an excellent player,” Vrabel told reporters on Feb. 5. “There are times where you reasonably can’t [shadow him] based on what they do. … It’s a good balance of being able to show different looks.”
