In the months before the start of the 2026 season, Calvin Johnson told the Detroit Free Press that he believes it’s a “matter of time” until someone breaks his single-season receiving record of 1,964 yards.

Could that time be this season? 

Fourteen years ago, Johnson reset the record when he recorded 1,964 yards in 2012, breaking Jerry Rice’s record of 1,848 yards in 1995. Through eight games, Jaxon Smith-Njigba is on pace to break the record and reach a milestone no other receiver has hit: 2,000 receiving yards in a season. 

A 2,000-yard receiving season has eluded even the league’s best receivers through the league’s 106-year history. Nine running backs have rushed for 2,000 yards in a season, but no wideout has surpassed 2,000 receiving yards. That, however, could change if Smith-Njigba maintains his current pace, a massive “if.” 

Through eight games, Smith-Njigba has 64 receptions for 985 yards and nine touchdowns. With a six-reception, 118-yard performance against the Bears on Monday night, he has now recorded more than 100 yards in seven of eight games.  His 123.2 yards per game puts him on pace for 2,093.

The most recent receiver to record 100 yards in each of his first eight games was Adam Thielen, who tallied 1,027 yards through games in 2018 with the Vikings. Thielen was unable to sustain that pace, however, going over 100 yards only once more and finishing the year with 1,373 yards, even while playing in all 16 games.

Sustaining the pace, of course, is the hardest part.

Smith-Njigba should know from experience. Through eight games last season, he recorded 948 yards, with a legitimate chance to break Johnson’s record and reach 2,000 yards, especially since he is playing in the era of the 17-game season. Smith-Njigba remained great over the second half of the season and won Offensive Player of the Year, but finished well short of the 2,000 mark with 1,793 yards. 

Two years before Smith-Njigba’s OPOY season, Tyreek Hill kicked off the 2023 campaign on a record-setting pace, racking up 1,014 yards through eight games. He fell short of 100 yards in the last four games of the season, ending the year with 1,799 yards. Cooper Kupp, Smith-Njigba’s teammate in Seattle, has the second-most receiving yards in a single season, the year he recorded 924 yards through eight games with the 2021 Rams. Even with the advantage of a 17-game season, and going over 90 yards in 16 of 17 games and over 100 yards in five of his last six games, Kupp finished just shy of the mark with 1,947 yards. 

On the flip side, a few receivers came close to 2,000 yards despite slow starts. Johnson himself had just 767 yards midway through his record-setting season. He rallied in the second half of the year, going over 100 yards in eight of his final nine games, including a pair of 200-yard games. Before him, Jerry Rice mustered 765 yards through eight games in 1995. He finished with 100 yards in six of his final eight games to reach 1,848.

A handful of players that could have potentially become the NFL’s first 2,000-yard receiver never got a true chance to do so. In 1942, Don Hutson recorded 1,032 yards over his first eight games in an 11-game season. Nearly a decade later, Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch recorded 1,058 yards over his first eight games in 1951. He finished the season with 1,495 yards in a 12-game season. 

For decades, the single-season receiving yards record was held by Oilers star Charley Hennigan, who recorded 1,746 yards over a 14-game season while playing in the AFL in 1961, which still ranks 11th all time. His mark was not broken until Jerry Rice went for 1,848 yards in 1995. Hennigan recorded 1,122 yards through his first eight games that season.

Over Johnson’s record-setting season, he averaged 122.8 yards per game. Only three players have averaged more yards per game in a season than Johnson: Hirsch (124.6 yards per game), Hennigan (124.7) and the Chargers’ Wes Chandler in 1982. 

Chandler averaged a record 129 yards per game in 1982, recording a league-leading 1,032 yards through eight games. The only problem? The 1982 season was shortened to just nine games because of the players’ strike, and Chandler appeared in eight of them. Chandler is the only player to average enough yards for a 2,000-yard campaign in 16 games. Johnson’s, Hirsch’s and Hennigan’s averages would have been enough for 2,000 yards in a 17-game season.

So can Smith-Njigba not only reach this elite group, but surpass them? 

Here are his opponents for the remainder of the season: 

Smith-Njigba will have a prime opportunity to bolster his receiving output over the next four weeks as he takes on the Cardinals, Raiders, 49ers and Cowboys. He already recorded 155 yards and three touchdowns against the Cardinals this season, as well as 102 yards and a touchdown against the 49ers. The Raiders and Cowboys, meanwhile, have not been great defensively, and Smith-Njigba should be able to take advantage. Despite the fact that Smith-Njigba is the reigning OPOY, teams have still struggled to keep him to under 100 yards. Only the Chargers have done so, limiting him to 76 yards in Week 4.

The toughest stretch for Smith-Njigba could come at the end of the season, when he and the Seahawks face the Rams twice in the final three weeks. He recorded 96 or more yards in all three of his games against the Rams last season—including a 153-yard performance in the NFC championship game—but the Rams have made great efforts to improve their defense by acquiring Trent McDuffie and signing Jaylen Watson. 

Smith-Njigba is off to a historic pace, but it could only take a couple of sub-100-yard games to prevent him from reaching 2,000 yards or breaking Johnson’s record. He’ll need to maintain the consistency he’s shown to start the season to not only lead the league in receiving again, but cement his place in NFL history.