Jaxon Smith-Njigba is getting another sign that his breakout season with the Seattle Seahawks changed his standing around the NFL.
ESPN announced the nominees for the 2026 ESPYS, and Smith-Njigba was named one of four finalists for Best NFL Player. The Seahawks wide receiver is up against Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye and Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.
That is a major piece of recognition for Smith-Njigba after Seattle’s Super Bowl season. ESPN also listed him among the event’s first-time nominees, putting him in a group of athletes whose national profiles jumped during the past year.
For the Seahawks, the nomination does more than recognize one player. It reinforces what became obvious during Seattle’s championship run: Smith-Njigba is no longer just a promising former first-round pick. He is being treated like one of the NFL’s headline players.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba Joins Loaded Best NFL Player Field
Smith-Njigba’s competition makes the nomination more meaningful.
Garrett is also nominated for Best Record-Breaking Performance after ESPN said he broke the NFL single-season sack record with 23 sacks in 2025. ESPN noted that a defensive player has never won Best NFL Player at the ESPYS, which gives Garrett his own historical storyline.
Stafford gives the category a veteran quarterback name from a division rival, while Maye gives it another first-time nominee and one of the NFL’s rising young quarterbacks. Smith-Njigba is the only wide receiver in the group.
That matters because award fields often reflect more than raw production. They show which players became central to the national conversation. Smith-Njigba landing in this category after the Seahawks’ Super Bowl season says plenty about how his role is now viewed outside Seattle.
The Seahawks have had star receivers before, but this nomination puts Smith-Njigba in a different kind of spotlight. He is representing Seattle not just as one of its best offensive players, but as one of ESPN’s four choices for the best player in the league.
Seahawks’ Super Bowl Season Keeps Getting National Recognition
Smith-Njigba is not the only Seahawks presence on the ESPYS ballot.
Seattle was also nominated for Best Team, joining a field that includes the Las Vegas Aces, Los Angeles Dodgers, Indiana Hoosiers football, Carolina Hurricanes, New York Knicks, Texas Longhorns softball, Team USA men’s hockey and Team USA women’s hockey.
That team nomination is worth mentioning, but Smith-Njigba’s individual honor is the sharper Seahawks story.
A Best Team nomination rewards the full championship season. Smith-Njigba’s nomination singles out one of the players who helped define it. It also gives the Seahawks an individual face on the ballot, which can matter when fans are choosing between teams and athletes from across sports.
ESPN said fan voting is open through July 15, the same day the ESPYS air on ABC and stream on the ESPN App.
Smith-Njigba’s Nomination Signals a New Seahawks Reality
The bigger takeaway for Seattle is what this says about Smith-Njigba’s place in the franchise’s present and future.
The Seahawks are coming off a Super Bowl season, which already changes how every major player on the roster is discussed. But Smith-Njigba’s nomination shows that his rise is not being treated as a local storyline or a temporary postseason bump.
He is now part of the league-wide star conversation.
That is significant for a Seahawks offense entering the next season with a different kind of pressure. Seattle is no longer chasing credibility. The Seahawks are trying to defend a championship standard, and Smith-Njigba’s role in that pursuit will be one of the central storylines around the team.
The ESPYS are not a football award show in the traditional sense. They are a cross-sport popularity and achievement platform. That makes Smith-Njigba’s inclusion more notable, not less. He had to break through beyond the usual NFL audience to land in this field.
For Seahawks fans, the message is simple: Seattle’s Super Bowl season did not just elevate the franchise. It elevated Smith-Njigba into one of the NFL’s most visible stars.
And now ESPN has put him on a national ballot to prove it.
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