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Seahawks put Druski on blast over Jaxon Smith-Njigba controversy at NFL Honors

Danby: Daniel Hager02/06/26DanielHagerOn3

Just days before the Seattle Seahawks square off against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX, Seahawks star wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba was named the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year at Thursday night’s NFL Honors. It was an honor that did not shock anyone.

Smith-Njigba had a phenomenal season for Seattle, hauling in 119 catches for a league-leading 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns. His big moment, however, was overshadowed by comedian Druski‘s intentional mispronunciation of his name.

The Seattle Seahawks PR X/Twitter account came for Druski following the awards show.

“Hall of Famer Barry Sanders drew the short straw getting stuck with Druski‘s big whiff tonight,” the tweet read. “Put some respect on Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba‘s name.”

As he is preparing for Sunday night’s Super Bowl, Smith-Njigba was not present at Thursday’s NFL Honors, which took place at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. He, however, sent in a prerecorded message to be played following his win.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba: ‘I can’t thank everyone involved enough’

“Wow, what an honor,” Smith-Njigba said. “I want to first give all the glory to God. Second, I want to give it to my teammates. I want to thank y’all. I love y’all. You are who I do it for each and every week. I want to give this award to my father. Going into my last year (at Ohio State), he told me to pray for wisdom and I did. Before going into that season, I wanted to be a top-five Draft choice. I wanted to be a Heisman candidate and a bunch of things.

“Ultimately, I wasn’t able to play. With that time, I grew wise and figured out a lot about myself and who I wanted to do it for. Ultimately, I dropped to the 20th Draft pick, where I was selected by the Seattle Seahawks. I can’t thank everyone involved enough. Much love and have a great night.”

Smith-Njigba burst onto the scene as a sophomore at Ohio State in 2021, hauling in 95 catches for 1,606 yards and nine touchdowns. This included one of the best bowl game performances of all time, where he recorded 15 receptions for 347 yards and three touchdowns in a 48-45 win over Utah in the 2022 Rose Bowl. He would be selected with the No. 20 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft by Seattle, where he has steadily improved his output season-over-season.

With the OPOY win Thursday night, Smith-Njigba became the fourth different wide receiver to win the award in the 21st century (Justin Jefferson, Cooper Kupp, and Michael Thomas). He, however, certainly has all eyes on the Lombardi Trophy in Sunday’s Super Bowl.