A name is your first identity. Everything else comes after that. And when you look at how Jaxon Smith-Njigba delivered the best season of his career with the Seattle Seahawks this past year, a season strong enough to earn Offensive Player of the Year honors, only for the moment to get overshadowed because comedian Druski mispronounced his name, it all circles back to that idea. Which is exactly why Smith-Njigba’s brother, Canaan Smith-Njigba, called out both Druski and the NFL for ruining the receiver’s moment.

“The Offensive Player of the Year was turned into a comedy segment with Druski, minimizing an award earned through elite performance and hard work,” Smith-Njigba wrote on X. “NFL Honors never acknowledged the poor representation of one of the league’s top individual awards.”

The situation gained momentum amid the ongoing controversy surrounding Smith-Njigba’s Offensive Player of the Year award, which initially started with a mispronunciation and has now escalated into criticism over the NFL misspelling the title on the trophy itself.

During Super Bowl weekend, Smith-Njigba earned the honor after a dominant season where he recorded 119 receptions for a league-leading 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns during the regular season. He ultimately finished atop the OPOY voting with 272 points. Druski served as one of the presenters during NFL Honors in 2026 and was tasked with announcing the league’s Offensive Player of the Year award.

However, the comedian struggled while trying to pronounce Smith-Njigba’s last name during the ceremony. And while the receiver himself was not present because he was preparing for the Super Bowl, which he and Seattle eventually went on to win, the moment quickly drew widespread criticism online. As the backlash intensified, Druski later addressed the situation during an appearance on CBS Mornings.

“I like to mess around and sometimes you can go too far,” he said. “I reached out and congratulations to him, the team on the Super Bowl. I thought that was an amazing thing. Yeah I didn’t get no response back, but I did reach out, I tried.”

But since then, the situation has only continued spiraling further. Following the mispronunciation controversy, the NFL eventually sent Smith-Njigba his Offensive Player of the Year trophy. The problem, however, was that the trophy itself reportedly carried the title “Defensive Player of the Year” instead of Offensive Player of the Year. Smith-Njigba later expressed his frustration through an Instagram story, writing:

“It’s getting disrespectful guys. ‘Defensive’ instead of ‘Offensive.'”

On top of that, the engraving reportedly also appeared to be missing a space between the words “the year.” And while taking another subtle shot at the NFL, Smith-Njigba’s brother further criticized the league over the embarrassing mistake attached to the trophy itself. He added:

“After months to prepare and ship the award, the only offensive player selected received a Defensive Player of the Year trophy. At some point, professionalism, respect, and attention to detail should matter.”

So now, one of the two biggest achievements of Smith-Njigba’s season, the other obviously being a Super Bowl title, has continued making headlines for all the wrong reasons. And amid the growing frustration from both Smith-Njigba brothers, the NFL has finally started taking steps to correct the mistakes that created this entire controversy in the first place.

The NFL is sending a new trophy to Jaxon Smith-Njigba

After Jaxon Smith-Njigba publicly shared his frustration over the misspelling on his Offensive Player of the Year trophy, the NFL is now reportedly sending a corrected version to the Seahawks receiver. According to league spokesperson Brian McCarthy, the NFL has already started creating a replacement trophy while also issuing an apology to Smith-Njigba over the mistake.

“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,” McCarthy said. “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.”

Meanwhile, Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns won Defensive Player of the Year honors after recording a single-season NFL record of 23 sacks during the 2025 season. And while the league later inquired whether Garrett had received the correct trophy, the Browns did not immediately respond to an email inquiry.

That said, the frustration and criticism coming from both Jaxon and Canaan Smith-Njigba clearly seem justified. The NFL, meanwhile, is now trying to correct the mistakes that turned one of the biggest moments of Smith-Njigba’s career into an avoidable controversy.