Seahawks gave Jaxon Smith-Njigba smaller shoes to fix injury issues - and it worked

Seahawks gave Jaxon Smith-Njigba smaller shoes to fix injury issues - and it worked originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Seattle Seahawks had a magical 2025 season, winning the Super Bowl and seeing multiple players break out, including Sam Darnold.

But the most notable individual season came from Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who put together one of the best WR seasons in NFL history, winning Offensive Player of the Year, and being the leader of the offense for Seattle in 2025.

While not directly what led to his breakout, the Seahawks Director of Equipment, Erik Kennedy, revealed on Seattle Sports 710 that Smith-Njigba's cleat size went down a good bit from college to the pros, and it helped cut down on his injury issues.

Seahawks changed JSN's cleat size for health reasons, and it worked

"In college, he was wearing a size 12 and had hamstring issues," Kennedy said. "Gets here, he's a 10 and a half, wears a 10 and a half... It's helped him; he hasn't missed time, it's done things like that."

Smith-Njigba was wearing size 12 cleats during his collegiate days at Ohio State. But when he came to the NFL, the Seahawks used foot-scanning technology to get him fitted with a better-sized shoe.

Despite having hamstring issues in college, Smith-Njigba has put those problems behind him, thanks in part to the change in shoe size.

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