$168m Super Bowl-winning star tells NFL to ‘keep award’ after ‘disrespectful’ trophy error

It’s safe to say that Jaxon Smith-Njigba is not impressed with the NFL.

The Seattle Seahawks star wide receiver not only won a Super Bowl in 2025, but also claimed bragging rights for being the NFL‘s Offensive Player of the Year.

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But after receiving his trophy, the 24-year-old has a slight sour taste in his mouth.

This comes as the trophy had a misprint on it, instead reading ‘NFL Defensive Player of the Year.’

“I really wanna expose the though,” Smith-Njigba said on his Instagram story when filming the error made on his trophy.

“This is, it’s getting disrespectful guys. Defense? Come on bro. One word. Man.”

In a follow-up post, he posted a selfie of himself looking pensive with the text, “Just keep the award at this point. Leave it in the history books tho.”

In 2025, en route to Super Bowl LIX glory, Smith-Njigba formed a dynamic partnership with veteran quarterback Sam Darnold.

Catching footballs from his new signal caller, following Geno Smith‘s departure to the Las Vegas Raiders in the off-season, Smith-Njigba recorded 119 receptions from 163 targets for a league-leading 1,793 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns.

He also became the first player in NFL history with at least 75 receiving yards in each of his first 11 games of a season, as well as recording a franchise record nine 100-plus yard games during the season.

Considered one of the top wide receivers in the league last season – and was paid as such – he even completed a 35 yard pass off a trick play to end his season with a 100 percent pass completion rate and secure first-team All-Pro honors for the very first time.

NFL failed Smith-Njigba with OPOY delivery

The race for OPOY came down to the wire, with the Seahawks star achieving 272 points of which 14 were first-place votes, with San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey earning 223 points (12 first-place votes).

IG/ @jaxsnj

IG/ @jaxsnj

In doing so, he became just the second Seahawks player to ever win the award, after Shaun Alexander in 2005.

For Smith-Njigba, though, the trophy misprint is just another stain on his award from the league.

This is because the announcement of him having won the coveted individual award back in February was marred by disrespect and controversy thanks to comedian and social media influencer known as Druski.

Druski was tasked with announcing the winner of the OPOY, but in what was supposed to be a joyous moment for the star wideout, his family and his team, it was the influencer who stole the spotlight.

This is because he appeared to mispronounce Smith-Njigba’s surname – on purpose – alluding to a racial slur in a bitter attempt at humor, which ultimately backfired and upset many, many people.

But the 24-year-old took the high road then when afforded the opportunity to speak about his name, and the meaning behind it.

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 “Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Put respect on it, you here me?” he said. “Sierra Leone. My grandfather came to the United States in the 70s. Had to work for everything that he had.

“He brought a lot of people over here. He brought a lot of family over here and he was the leader and he took pride in who he was and what he had to give back.

“I represent him. I represent my family. I represent Sierra Leone. Bo, Freetown. It’s an honor just to even say that.

“I appreciate you asking that question because I wanted to say that up here in front of y’all and I take great pride in it.”

With the league’s latest error, though, it seems like Smith-Njigba has just about had enough.

Whether the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett has received an OPOY trophy instead remains to be seen.

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