Once upon a time, Canaan Smith-Njigba was a New York sports draftee, the outfielder a fourth-round pick of the New York Yankees out of high school in 2017.
Almost six full years later, his younger brother, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, is one of the top receiver prospects in the NFL Draft class of 2023…and he’d love to be in New York, too.
“I would love to be in the Big Apple in New York,” Jaxon Smith-Njigba told reporters Wednesday after Ohio State’s Pro Day. “It would be a blessing. A dream come true.”
The elder Smith-Njigba is no longer here, traded to the Pirates as part of the Jameson Taillon deal, but the younger one had a good time at his Tuesday night dinner with the Giants’ brass, including GM Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll.
“Great dinner, great conversation, great people and great coaches,” Smith-Njigba said. “I feel they are on the come-up. You saw it last year with them making the playoffs and doing their thing. I definitely loved meeting with them, had a great conversation. A great time.”
Big Blue had nine reps in Columbus, the second most behind Carolina, who have the No. 1 overall pick and were surely there to watch C.J.
Stroud. The Giants, at No. 25, have several areas they could look to focus on, and adding another weapon for Daniel Jones on offense is one of them.
Smith-Njigba is graded by Pro Football Focus as the fifth-best receiver prospect in the draft and is predicted by that outlet as an “Early Day 2” pick, but Smith-Njigba is doing everything he can in pre-draft workouts and on his Pro Day to up that stock.
If he were to become a first-rounder, he could be a steal; he played just three games last year due to injury, which surely hurt his stock, but in 2021, he had 95 catches for 1,606 yards and nine touchdowns, and was arguably the best receiver on an Ohio State offense that had two first-round picks – Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave – in last year’s draft.
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This is PFF’s synopsis on Smith-Njigba:
On one hand, JSN is a very safe pick. His ball skills (nine catches on 10 contested catches in 2021), size, after-the-catch ability (19 broken tackles in 2021) and nuanced route running are safe traits when projecting to the slot. On the other hand, he lacks explosiveness, long speed and leaping ability to win consistently downfield in the NFL. While quality slot receivers are valuable, being pigeonholed into such a role limits what he can bring to an NFL offense.
Receiver is clearly somewhere Big Blue is focusing, as the Giants are also set to meet with USC’s Jordan Addison Thursday night ahead of the Trojan’s Pro Day on Friday.
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