Seahawks changed JSN’s shoe size, and saved his hamstrings

Members of the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks franchise use the phrase “chasing edges” a lot – and that even extends to their equipment department.

Turns out, their contributions are pretty important, too.

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Longtime Seahawks director of equipment Erik Kennedy was a guest on The John Schneider Show on Thursday, joining the weekly conversation between the Seahawks general manager/president of football operations and Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob. And in explaining exactly what his job entails, Kennedy dropped an incredibly interesting bit of information.

It has to do with star wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who led the NFL in receiving yards and set Seahawks’ single-season receiving yards and receptions records in 2025.

“You’re always trying to find little edges that can help players,” Kennedy said. “Let’s just say Jaxon Smith-Njigba, you were talking him about in college (at Ohio State), he was wearing a size 12 (pair of shoes), 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.”

.@jaxon_smith1, master of the head fake 🎭 pic.twitter.com/nuBPHwrz8T

— NFL (@NFL) March 14, 2026

Kennedy isn’t exaggerating. JSN has played all 17 regular season games in each of his three years with the Seahawks, as well as their three playoff wins that clinched the team’s second Super Bowl championship earlier this year. That’s pretty notable considering Smith-Njigba played just three games in his final season at Ohio State due to those hamstring issues.

Kennedy and his equipment team deserve credit for being somewhat revolutionary in the NFL.

“About the last 15 years, we’ve been able to do some foot scanning and things like that,” Kennedy said.

Then Schneider interjected to make sure that part wasn’t glossed over.

“First in the NFL (to do foot scanning), and that’s because of his relationship at Nike,” Schneider said.

Scanning foots to make sure players have the right shoe size is just the tip of the iceberg.

“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.”

Hear the full conversation in the podcast below. Catch Wyman and Bob from 2-7 p.m. weekdays, including The John Schneider Show at 4 p.m. each Thursday leading up to the NFL Draft.

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