Whoever was assigned to send Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s prestigious NFL award had one job. Somebody else may have to do it next time, as the Seattle Seahawks star wide receiver got the wrong hardware.
In an Instagram Stories post, Smith-Njigba revealed that the trophy he received has a print for a completely different award. Instead of “Offensive Player of the Year,” the text on the silverware read “Defensive Player of the Year.”
“[It’s] getting disrespectful at this point,” the former Ohio State Buckeyes wideout wrote on the post. He followed that up with a selfie with a caption saying, “Just keep the award at this point. Leave it in the history books tho.”
The #NFL gave #Seahawks Jaxon Smith-Njigba "2025 Defensive Player of the Year." This was his response on his Instagram story:
— HawkMania (@hawkmania4) May 19, 2026
Photo credit: JSN/IG pic.twitter.com/asKqdTD2gr
For the record, the 2025 NFL Defensive Player of the Year is Cleveland Browns superstar pass rusher Myles Garrett.
This is not the first time Smith-Njigba has been slighted in connection with an award he won.
There was, of course, the viral moment at the NFL Honors where social media personality Druski intentionally butchered the wide receiver’s name.
The 24-year-old Smith-Njigba led the NFL in the 2025 campaign with 1,793 receiving yards to go along with 10 touchdowns on 119 receptions and capped his third season in the league with a Super Bowl victory.
What else is he supposed to do to stop getting disrespected?
