Foot scanning cleared up Jaxon Smith-Njigba's hamstring issues

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Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba played only three games in his final season at Ohio State due to hamstring issues. The Seahawks did foot scanning on Smith-Njigba when he arrived as a first-round pick in 2023 and discovered something that cleared up his tight hamstrings. The Seahawks' director of equipment, Erik Kennedy, explained the result on The John Schneider Show on Thursday. “You’re always trying to find little edges that can help players,” Kennedy said, via Brent Stecker of Seattle Sports. “Let’s just say Jaxon Smith-Njigba, you were talking him about in college, he was wearing a size 12, had hamstring issues and things like that. Gets here, he’s a 10 1/2. . . . It’s helped him, right? He hasn’t missed time and done things like that. That helps build the trust for us with the players.” Smith-Njigba has played all 51 possible games in his three NFL seasons, as well as all three playoff games in 2025. Schneider said the Seahawks were the first team in the NFL to do foot scanning, thanks to Kennedy's relationship with Nike. Kennedy said he and his team do more than just fit players in the correct shoes. “What we get into is the helmet, to protect the players, everything should be custom, right?” Kennedy said. “We’ve gotten to the point we believe everything’s custom, and John and those guys and the ownership and everybody’s afforded us the opportunity to go out and chase and do those things where wearing the top helmets, wearing custom shoulder pads that are scanned to the body, scanning the feet, like getting to the point where you’re basically scanning everything to fit the person, and then having the crew to be able to do it. There’s five of us full-time guys that do it.”