Canaan Smith-Njigba did not hold back after Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s Offensive Player of the Year moment turned into another NFL controversy.
The Seattle Seahawks star earned one of the league’s biggest individual honors, but his brother believes the handling of the award showed a lack of professionalism.
From the dunk-celebration fine to the NFL Honors presentation, the frustration was aimed at how the league used Smith-Njigba’s image while failing to properly respect his achievement.
Canaan Smith-Njigba calls out NFL for turning Jaxon Smith-Njigba award into a Druski comedy bit
Canaan Smith-Njigba criticized the NFL over how it handled Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s Offensive Player of the Year recognition.
He wrote, “The NFL quickly collected a fine for the dunk celebration, then used those same images for promotion.”
“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 added.
The issue was not only about a joke being made during a major ceremony. Canaan’s point was that the league punished a celebration, then turned around and benefited from the same type of imagery when it wanted promotional value.
That made the Druski segment feel even more frustrating from the family’s perspective. Smith-Njigba’s award was supposed to highlight a season built on production, consistency and elite play, not become a punchline around presentation.
Canaan Smith-Njigba says NFL Honors mishandled Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s trophy moment
The criticism became sharper because Canaan Smith-Njigba also pointed to what he viewed as basic failures around the actual award process.
“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,” he continued.
“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,” Smith-Njigba concluded.
Giving the Offensive Player of the Year a Defensive Player of the Year trophy turns an elite individual achievement into an avoidable embarrassment.
Canaan’s argument is that Smith-Njigba did everything required on the field, only for the league to mishandle the moment off it. The NFL can lean into entertainment at Honors, but player awards still need weight.
For Canaan, the ceremony failed that standard when it treated Smith-Njigba’s achievement like a bit instead of one of the biggest honors of his career.
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