NFL apologises after sending wrong trophy to Jaxon Smith-Njigba.© X/ @CollegeFBPortal
What should have been one of the happiest moments of Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s career has instead turned into an embarrassing situation for the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks star won Offensive Player of the Year after a huge season and later helped Seattle win the Super Bowl. But instead of the attention staying on his performances, the award has become part of an ongoing controversy involving comedian Druski, a trophy mistake and growing criticism from Smith-Njigba’s family. The NFL is now trying to fix the situation after several mistakes drew backlash online. What started with a viral moment during NFL Honors became even worse after Smith-Njigba reportedly received a trophy that called him the league’s Defensive Player of the Year instead of Offensive Player of the Year.
NFL Honors moment created controversy around Jaxon Smith-Njigba award
Smith-Njigba earned the award after dominating during the 2025 regular season. The wide receiver finished with 119 catches, 1,793 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns, ending the year with the most voting points for Offensive Player of the Year. But the focus quickly changed during the NFL Honors ceremony when Druski struggled to pronounce Smith-Njigba’s surname while presenting the award. The Seahawks receiver was not at the event because he was preparing for the Super Bowl, which Seattle later won.
The moment went viral online and led to criticism aimed at both Druski and the NFL. During an appearance on CBS Mornings, the comedian later admitted the situation went too far.
“I like to mess around and sometimes you can go too far,” he said. “I reached out and congratulations to him, the team on the Super Bowl. I thought that was an amazing thing. Yeah I didn’t get no response back, but I did reach out, I tried.”
Things became even more awkward when Smith-Njigba later shared that his trophy reportedly had the wrong title engraved on it. “It’s getting disrespectful guys. ‘Defensive’ instead of ‘Offensive,’” Smith-Njigba wrote on Instagram.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s brother calls out NFL over trophy error
As criticism continued growing, Smith-Njigba’s brother Canaan Smith-Njigba publicly criticised the NFL for how the situation was handled. “The Offensive Player of the Year was turned into a comedy segment with Druski, minimizing an award earned through elite performance and hard work,” Smith-Njigba wrote on X. “NFL Honors never acknowledged the poor representation of one of the league’s top individual awards.”
He also slammed the mistake on the trophy itself. “After months to prepare and ship the award, the only offensive player selected received a Defensive Player of the Year trophy. At some point, professionalism, respect, and attention to detail should matter.”
The NFL has now confirmed it is sending Smith-Njigba a corrected trophy. League spokesperson Brian McCarthy apologised for the mistake and said a replacement is already being made.
“The league made the mistake. We sincerely apologize to Jaxon for the error and are in the process of creating and shipping him a new trophy,” McCarthy said. “Of course, like the teams he played against this year, we know how great an offensive player he is. We just had a problem spelling it.”
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