Why Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s Contract Proves Ohio State To Be College Football’s WRU

It's a great start to the week, especially if you're wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

The 24-year-old Super Bowl champion was immensely rewarded Monday by the Seattle Seahawks, signing Smith-Njigba to a $168.6 million contract extension over the next four seasons.

The dedication the Seahawks see in retaining Smith-Njigba also comes with a little bit of NFL history attached. As he had during his prolific Ohio State career, his meteoric rise to NFL stardom now makes him the league's highest-paid receiver with the potential to cement his place as one of the faces of a league that is largely built on name value, as it is with teams.

How Ohio State shaped JSN

In an interview with the BIGPLAY Sports Network before Smith-Njigba's eventual contribution in helping the Seahawks beat the New England Patriots to win the Lombardi Trophy, Smith-Njigba was able to comment about why playing for the Buckeyes led him to early NFL success.

“Growing up as a young man, finding myself in those college days on and off the field and being surrounded by special people that I still call friends to this day is awesome,” Smith-Njigba said. "Competing at Ohio State and development at Ohio State is second to none."

Smith-Njigba is just another example of a laundry list of receivers who have come out of Columbus to transition into the NFL. One of the most notable examples of Ohio State being dubbed "Wide Receiver University" is the career of Cris Carter.

Carter's NFL career, which spanned from 1987 to 2002 after a three-year stint in Columbus, blossomed after becoming the Buckeyes' first-ever All-American wideout. In the NFL, Carter was dominant. He caught 130 touchdowns while accumulating 13,899 yards across three different NFL teams. These included the Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, and his final season with the Miami Dolphins in 2002.

Carter continues to speak fondly of his college career to this day, taking a great liking to the current iteration of receivers, similarly to Smith-Njigba.

"His releases, his route running, 50-50 balls -- as we can see as the season's gone on, he's gotten better, and he's going to get a lot better before he gets drafted in the NFL the next couple of years," Carter told CBS Sports of Jeremiah Smith.

We'll see if Smith-Njigba continues to dominate at the next level. But, what is clear, is that the standard of excellence at the wide receiver position beginning at a university like Ohio State is not just uncommon, it's almost a necessity.

But only time will tell.