Jaxon Smith-Njigba's brother calls out NFL for OPOY trophy typo

Another member of the Smith-Njigba family is taking aim at the NFL.

Just one day after Seattle Seahawks star receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba said he felt disrespected by the league for sending him a mislabeled NFL "Oefensive" Player of the Year award trophy, his brother, Canaan, also voiced his displeasure. Canaan, who played 18 games across two seasons with MLB's Pittsburgh Pirates, had plenty to say about the league his brother represents.

"The NFL quickly collected a fine for the dunk celebration, then used those same images for promotion," Canaan said in a May 19 post on X. "The Offensive Player of the Year was turned into a comedy segment with Druski, minimizing an award earned through elite performance and hard work."

"NFL Honors never acknowledged the poor representation of one of the league's top individual awards. The 'prestigious' ceremony didn't even air the pre-recorded acceptance speech. 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."

Jaxon was unable to attend NFL Honors to receive his award in person, since he was preparing for Super Bowl 60 - a game the Seahawks went on to win, 29-13. In addition to receiving the award and winning his first ring, Jaxon also went on to ink a four-year, $168.6 million extension in Seattle.

In between those personal highlights have been multiple outside lowlights.

The Druski comments came as the comedian struggled to pronounce Smith-Njigba's last name when announcing the receiver as the winner of the award at the 2026 NFL Honors, an incident for whichthe comedian has since apologized.

While it appeared that the NFL Honors fiasco was behind the star receiver, the drama came into focus again when Jaxon's trophy arrived on May 18.

"It's getting disrespectful guys," he said, while holding his trophy up to the camera and referencing that it appeared to say "Defensive" instead of "Offensive."

The award also featured a typo, in which "TheYear" was combined into one word, with no space between.

It's an error that the league has since apologized for, saying that the misspelling was actually "Oefensive" - a misspelling of "Offensive" - rather than "Defensive."

Regardless, a new trophy is in production for the Seahawks star. The NFL might want to proofread that one a couple of times as it tries to make amends with the Smith-Njigba family.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jaxon Smith-Njigba's brother, Canaan, has issue with NFL trophy error