Former Ohio State Buckeyes star caps off incredible season with a major award.
Former Ohio State Buckeyes' wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba was unbelievable for the Seattle Seahawks in the 2025 campaign. He is a major reason that the Seahawks are competing for the NFC Championship on Sunday and are the favorites to win the whole thing.
Smith-Njigba is a huge reason that his quarterback, Sam Darnold, has had yet another career resurgence and is on the cusp of winning his first-ever big one in just a couple of weeks.
For his performance this season, Smith-Njigba was named Pro Football Writers Association Offensive Player of the Year.
Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, we'll just look back on the body of work that JSN has put in to this point in the season. He finished the year with 119 catches for a league high 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns. He averaged a ridiculous 15 yards per catch from the start to the finish of the season.
He wasted no time settling into the start of the season. In Week 1, he hauled in 13 catches for 124 yards against the San Francisco 49ers.
Over the ensuing 10 games, he eclipsed 100 yards in seven of them, and in two of the three games that he didn't hit 100, he finished with over 93 yards.
The crowned jewel of his season was his 13 catch, 163-yard, one touchdown day against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Jacksonville against one of the AFC's hottest teams. The Seahawks won that football game 20-12, and it was thanks, in large part, to JSN.
The most impressive part of JSN's season was the fact that he did this all in what was the most high-pressure season of his career.
Prior to the start of the year, the Seahawks traded away their then #1 wide receiver, DK Metcalf, to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for a high draft pick. The rationale was that Smith-Njigba was ready to take the throne.
His back was against the wall to prove that the decision was correct and prove to his team that he can easily be a No. 1 type receiver. He passed that test with flying colors.
JSN is fighting an uphill battle because he is undersized, but what he lacks in size, he makes up for by being an incredible technician.
He is a route-running savant that happens to have elite speed and elite quickness, which, when combined with elite hands, make an elite receiver.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the PFWA Offensive Player of the Year, and it is likely not his last award this offseason.