Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s breakout season has placed him among the NFL’s offensive elite.
The Seattle Seahawks wide receiver was named the 2025 AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year on Thursday night at NFL Honors in San Francisco, earning the award in a tightly contested race against some of the league’s biggest stars. Smith-Njigba edged out fellow finalists Christian McCaffrey, Puka Nacua, Bijan Robinson and Drake Maye, with his Seahawks set to face the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX on Sunday.
Smith-Njigba finished with 272 points and 14 first-place votes, narrowly topping McCaffrey, who collected 223 points and 12 first-place votes. Nacua (eight), Robinson (six) and Maye (five) also garnered first-place support. The honor marked just the second time in franchise history a Seahawks player has won Offensive Player of the Year, joining Shaun Alexander in 2005.
In his third NFL season, Smith-Njigba delivered one of the most prolific receiving campaigns the league has seen. He led the NFL with 1,793 receiving yards on 119 catches and added 10 touchdowns, surpassing his combined yardage from his first two seasons. Consistency defined his year, as he recorded at least 72 receiving yards in 15 of 17 games.
Smith-Njigba’s dominance was further validated by his selection as one of just three unanimous All-Pro picks for the 2025 season.
Questions lingered entering the year after Seattle traded DK Metcalf and added Cooper Kupp, while also turning to Sam Darnold at quarterback. Those doubts quickly vanished. Smith-Njigba and Darnold formed one of the league’s most productive passing connections, beginning with a nine-catch, 124-yard performance in Week 1 and continuing throughout a season in which Smith-Njigba averaged 119.4 receiving yards over his first 11 games.
His production helped power Seattle to a 14-3 record — the best in franchise history — and its fourth Super Bowl appearance. Smith-Njigba also became the first player since Jerry Rice in 1994 to lead the NFL in receiving yards while playing for the No. 1 seed in his conference.
A shift in usage played a key role in the breakout. According to Next Gen Stats, Smith-Njigba led the league in deep receiving yards with 542 and deep receptions with 13, a dramatic jump from his first two seasons combined, when he totaled just 11 deep catches for 325 yards.
The award continued a recent trend, marking the seventh straight season Offensive Player of the Year was won by a non-quarterback. With one of the sport’s highest individual honors now secured, Smith-Njigba heads into Super Bowl week as the centerpiece of Seattle’s offense — and one of the defining players of the 2025 NFL season.
