SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Jaxon Smith-Njigba appeared as though he would have his work cut out for him to replicate the success he enjoyed in his first 1,000-yard season in 2024.
Quarter b ack Sam Darnold, who has had his fair share of skeptics over the years, would be the one throwing to him. The departures of proven veterans like D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett figured to only bring more attention to Smith-Njigba, who would be playing opposite Cooper Kupp, fresh off a trio of injury-plagued seasons with the Los Angeles Rams.
The outcome? Smith-Njigba has thrived while helping to guide the Seahawks to Sunday's matchup against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 60.
The third-year pro set the team record for yards receiving (1,793) and receptions (119) in a single season en route to winning AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year on Thursday.
The 6-foot, 197-pound Smith-Njigba racked up nine 100-yard receiving games this season, and has continued to produce even as defenses focus on him more. In the Seahawks’ thrilling 31-27 win over the Rams in the NFC championship game, Smith-Njigba hauled in 10 passes for 153 yards receiving and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Kupp has been clutch in the playoffs and has taken some of the pressure off Smith-Njigba while catching nine passes for 96 yards and one touchdown.
Ultimately, though, it all starts on offense with Smith-Njigba, and his ability to attack the defense.
“He just wants to win,” said wide receiver Rashid Shaheed. "He doesn’t care if he gets zero catches or 13 catches. He knows he helps the team just by him being on the field. So, that’s all he really cares about, man. He’s a competitor and he wants to win, and that’s all we ask for as a captain of a team.”
As much as the Seahawks’ offense has been led by Smith-Njigba, it doesn't just rely on its aerial attack. The second half of the season, Darnold’s production dipped while Kenneth Walker III surged for Seattle.
Walker, who could be playing in his last game in a Seahawks uniform, ran for over 1,000 yards this season (1,027) for the first time since his rookie year. He has also averaged 4.7 yards per carry in the postseason, caught all seven passes thrown his way for 78 yards and has four touchdowns on the ground.
The Seahawks, however, will once again be without reserve running back Zach Charbonnet, who went down with a season-ending knee injury against the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round of the playoffs. Charbonnet led the Seahawks with 12 touchdown runs this season and became the first Seattle player since Marshawn Lynch in 2014 to rush for at least 10 scores in a season
Seattle also has the speedy Shaheed, who has three total return touchdowns including the playoffs and is always a downfield threat. Second-year tight end AJ Barner, who had a career-high six touchdowns in the regular season, has been a reliable target for Darnold and hauled in over 76% of passes intended for him.
Seattle’s greatest strength is its defense. No team allowed fewer points per game (17.2) this season, and Seattle finished in the top seven in the league in sacks and interceptions.
Like the Seahawks’ offense, the defense is a well-balanced unit, but one that has a clear advantage in its front seven. Defensive linemen Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy II tied for the team lead in sacks (7) during the regular season, along with linebacker Uchenna Nwosu. Williams has added another sack during the postseason.
Linebacker Ernest Jones IV tied for the second-most interceptions (5) in the NFL and he has one more during the playoffs.
Few teams fielded special teams units as dominant as the Seahawks’ this season. Including the 2026 playoffs, Seattle has five special teams touchdowns, four of them on returns.
Outside of those plays, the Seahawks have been steady and productive on special teams.
In his 11th season, Jason Myers set the NFL record for most points by a kicker in a single season with 171, surpassing David Akers’ 166. Punter Michael Dickson, meanwhile, was a second-team AP All-Pro selection in his eighth year in the league.
But with the Seahawks’ special teams units, it all starts with Shaheed, who is a threat to become the first player to return a punt for a touchdown in the Super Bowl.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba speaks during the NFL Super Bowl Opening Night, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in San Jose, Calif. ahead of the Super Bowl 60 football game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba speaks during a news conference on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in San Jose, Calif., ahead of Super Bowl 60 between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado funeral home owner who stashed 189 decomposing bodies in a building over four years and gave grieving families fake ashes was sentenced to 40 years in state prison Friday.
During the sentencing hearing, family members told Judge Eric Bentley they have had recurring nightmares about decomposing flesh and maggots since learning what happened to their loved ones.
They called defendant Jon Hallford a “monster” and urged the judge to give him the maximum sentence of 50 years.
Bentley told Hallford he caused “unspeakable and incomprehensible” harm.
“It is my personal belief that every one of us, every human being, is basically good at the core, but we live in a world that tests that belief every day, and Mr. Hallford your crimes are testing that belief,” Bentley said.
Hallford apologized before his sentencing and said he would regret his actions for the rest of his life.
“I had so many chances to put a stop to everything and walk away, but I did not,” he said. “My mistakes will echo for a generation. Everything I did was wrong.”
Hallford’s attorney unsuccessfully sought a 30 year sentence, arguing that it was not a crime of violence and he had no prior criminal record.
His former wife, Carie Hallford, who co-owned the Return to Nature Funeral Home, is due to be sentenced April 24. She faces 25 to 35 years in prison.
Both pleaded guilty in December to nearly 200 counts of corpse abuse under an agreement with prosecutors.
During the years they were stashing bodies, the Hallfords spent lavishly, according to court documents. That included purchasing a GMC Yukon and an Infiniti worth over $120,000 combined, along with $31,000 in cryptocurrency, pricey goods from stores like Gucci and Tiffany & Co. and laser body sculpting.
“Clearly this is a crime motivated by greed,” prosecutor Shelby Crow said. The Hallfords charged more than $1,200 per customer, and the money the couple spent on luxury items would have covered the cost to cremate all of the bodies many times over, Crow said.
The Hallfords also pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges after prosecutors said they cheated the government out of nearly $900,000 in pandemic-era small business aid. Jon Hallford was sentenced to 20 years in prison in that case, and Carie Hallford’s sentencing is pending.
A plea agreement in the corpse abuse case calls for the state prison sentence to be served concurrently with the federal sentence.
One of the family members who spoke at the hearing was Kelly Mackeen, whose mother's remains were handled by Return to Nature.
“I’m a daughter whose mother was treated like yesterday’s trash and dumped in a site left to rot with hundreds of others,” Mackeen said. “I’m heartbroken, and I ask God every day for grace.”
As she and others spoke of their grief, Jon Hallford sat at a table to their right, wearing orange jail attire and looking directly ahead. The courtroom’s wooden benches were full of relatives of the deceased and also journalists.
The Hallfords stored the bodies in a building in the small town of Penrose, south of Colorado Springs, from 2019 until 2023, when investigators responding to reports of a stench from the building.
Bodies were found throughout the building, some stacked on top of each other, with swarms of bugs and decomposition fluid covering the floors, investigators said. The remains — including adults, infants and fetuses — were stored at room temperature.
The bodies were identified over months with fingerprints, DNA and other methods.
Investigators believe the Hallfords gave families dry concrete that resembled ashes.
After families learned that what they received and then spread or kept at home were not actually their loved ones' remains, many said it undid their grieving process, while others had nightmares and struggled with guilt.
One of the recovered bodies was that of a former Army sergeant first class who was thought to have been buried at a veterans’ cemetery, FBI agent Andrew Cohen said.
When investigators exhumed the wooden casket at the cemetery, they found the remains of a person of a different gender inside, he said. The veteran, who was not identified in court, was later given a funeral with full military honors at Pikes Peak National Cemetery.
The corpse abuse revelations spurred changes to Colorado's lax funeral home regulations.
The AP previously reported that the Hallfords missed tax payments, were evicted from one of their properties and were sued for unpaid bills, according to public records and interviews with people who worked with them.
In a rare decision last year, Judge Bentley rejected previous plea agreements between the Hallfords and prosecutors that called for up to 20 years in prison. Family members of the deceased said the agreements were too lenient.
Brown reported from Billings, Montana.
Angelika Stedman, who hired Return to Nature funeral home to cremate her daughter, speaks to a reporter outside of the El Paso County Courthouse in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, ahead of the sentencing owner Jon Hallford. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
Derrick Johnson, whose mother's body was one of 189 left to decay in the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., walks toward the El Paso County Courthouse for owner Jon Hallford's sentencing in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
Crystina Page, left, hugs Angelika Stedman outside of the El Paso County Courthouse in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, ahead of the sentencing of Return to Nature funeral home owner Jon Hallford. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
FILE - Fremont County coroner Randy Keller, center, and other authorities survey the area where they plan to put up tents at the Return to Nature Funeral Home where over 100 bodies have been improperly stored, Oct. 7, 2023, in Penrose, Colo. (Parker Seibold/The Gazette via AP, File)
FILE - Chrystina Page, right, holds back Heather De Wolf, as she yells at Jon Hallford, left, the owner of Back to Nature Funeral Home, as he leaves with his lawyers following a preliminary hearing, Feb. 8, 2024, outside the El Paso County Judicial Building, in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Christian Murdock/The Gazette via AP, File)
