Jaxon Smith-Njigba is speaking out about what appears to be another reason he feels betrayed. The NFL’s current Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year, Smith-Njigba, uploaded a video to his Instagram account that demonstrates how his trophy was incorrectly titled.
The Seattle Seahawks player is shown carrying the trophy in the video, which was uploaded as an Instagram story late on Monday. It reads, “2025 Defensive Player Of The Year.”
In the video, Smith-Njigba states:
“I really want to expose them,” “It’s getting disrespectful, guys.” “One word? Man.”
“It’s getting disrespectful at this point.”
#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
Later on Monday, NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy told The Athletic that Smith-Njigba will receive a new trophy from the league. McCarthy stated to The Athletic:
“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.
“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.”
Additionally, Smith-Njigba identified a minor error on the trophy that seemed to have no space between the words “The” and “Year.”
