Apparently, Seahawks' Jaxon Smith-Njigba was actually Defensive Player of the Year in 2025 NFL season

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May 19, 2026 - 13:24

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Apparently, Seahawks' Jaxon Smith-Njigba was actually Defensive Player of the Year in 2025 NFL season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba put together a season for the ages in 2025 as the Seattle Seahawks shone bright from start to finish, with the campaign ending by winning the Super Bowl.

For his sterling performance, JSN was awarded Offensive Player of the Year honors by the Associated Press.

One problem, though: When that trophy showed up for Smith-Njigba, it actually listed him as Defensive Player of the Year.

Whoops.

#Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba received his Offensive Player of the Year trophy … but the plaque says Defensive Player of the Year. 🤦‍♂️

“It’s getting disrespectful at this point.” pic.twitter.com/mzDlTvACDk— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) May 19, 2026

Clearly, someone made a mistake here. Smith-Njigba is a superstar wide receiver. He doesn't play defense.

It's an odd error, though. It's one thing to initially make the wrong trophy. It's another to actually send it to JSN like that.

It also begs the question: Does the actual Defensive Player of the Year, Myles Garrett, have a trophy that lists his award correctly? In that case, they just made two DPOY trophies. Or, on the flip side, Garrett's could say Offensive Player of the Year?

While not a harmless mistake, there's certainly no additional messaging meant by this. Smith-Njigba calling it "disrespectful" is partially true, but there's no need to read too deeply into this.

Hopefully, someone can get him the right trophy. He had a season worth remembering for the right reasons.