Hold On!!! Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the NFL’s DEFENSIVE Player of the Year?!?! | The Rich Eisen Show
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Hold On!!! Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the NFL’s DEFENSIVE Player of the Year?!?!

The strangest moment at the NFL Honors ceremony a few months back was the comedian Druski deliberately mispronouncing Jaxon Smith-Njigba's name when announcing him as the Offensive Player of the Year. The show flagged that segment as one of the more uncomfortable bits of the night, with Druski layering it on top of a stretched riff that involved making fun of Barry Sanders.

Smith-Njigba just received his permanent trophy. It does not say Offensive Player of the Year.

It says Defensive Player of the Year.

The cast lost it. The Seahawks receiver who had led the NFL in receiving yards has, by the engraver's hand, now also been crowned the league's top defender.

Chris ran a public service announcement.

"Of all letters you could probably meld the right direction," he said, "getting that D to look like an O, and then just kind of filling in the bottom of the E to make it an F."

Rich had a different take. If he were JSN, he was keeping it.

"Number one, because it's like a Billy Ripken card," Rich said. "They're never going to make one of these again. These are going to be really valuable. One of one."

The second reason held a longer view. Smith-Njigba is three years into his career. He has a real chance to win Offensive Player of the Year again. If he does, he can mount the correct trophy next to this one.

"You could end up being the only player to have an Offensive and Defensive Player of the year trophy."

Then the cast noticed the second typo. It is not "of the year." It is "of theyear." No space.

The conversation pivoted from the recipient to the engraver, and to whether engraving qualifies as the kind of job that should be done sober.

"Engraving has to be a sober activity, right?" Chris said. "You don't have a couple of cocktails and then get out the little..." He paused. "What do they call it? Is it an engraver?"

The room confirmed that, yes, both the tool and the person are called an engraver.

"How many jobs like that are there?" Chris asked.

The bigger question, nobody answered. Who is going to tell the NFL?

Watch the full interview on The Rich Eisen Show, streaming live on Disney+ weekdays Noon-3PM ET.

Adapted from the original segment on The Rich Eisen Show. How we cover the show.

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