In the biggest moment of Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s NFL career to date, his name was mispronounced in the worst way.
Smith-Njigba, Seattle’s star third-year wide receiver, captured the AP Offensive Player of the Year award Thursday night after leading the league in receiving yards. NFL legend Barry Sanders and influencer Druski stood on stage to announce his name.
But Druski, assigned to read Smith-Njigba’s name off the provided card, made a catastrophic mistake. Instead of saying “Njigba,” he called out his name as a racial slur. He then made it worse by repeating it a second time. Sanders, clearly not enthused, uttered the correct pronunciation from the side.
“The winner decided not to pull up tonight, so I guess on his behalf, Jaxon Smith-N—ba. JSN,” Druski said.
The Seahawks sounded off on Druski for his error. Linebacker Uchenna Nwosu posted on X “Druski lame.” Seattle’s PR team even put out a message on Twitter as well.
“Hall of Famer Barry Sanders drew the short straw getting stuck with @druski’s big whiff tonight. Put some respect on @Seahawks WR @jaxon_smith1’s name,” they said.
Smith-Njigba had one of the best seasons from a receiver in recent memory. He finished with a league-leading 1,793 yards on 119 receptions while tacking on 10 touchdowns. At one point in November, he was on pace to break Calvin Johnson’s all-time receiving yards record (1,964).
He added another 153 yards in Seattle’s NFC Championship win over the Rams, and he’ll look to cap off his career year with a Super Bowl victory over the Patriots on Sunday.
Smith-Njigba wasn’t present at the ceremony due to his Super Bowl preparation. However, plenty others were. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford captured his first-career MVP award, Myles Garrett took home Defensive Player of the Year, and Tetaroia McMillan and Carson Schwesinger claimed Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year, respectively.
The MVP race was the closest it’s been since 2003, with Stafford narrowly edging out Patriots quarterback Drake Maye by one first-place vote.
In addition, Mike Vrabel was revealed as the AP Coach of the Year to another mispronunciation — though this time more funny than concerning. Tiffany Haddish read his name as “Verbal,” which eventually became overlooked when Druski stepped to the mic.
Now, the best way Smith-Njigba can get revenge is by winning the Super Bowl.
