The 2025 NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award race is pretty much down to Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor and Seattle Seahawks wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Both are on pace for career marks statistically and are the lifeblood of their offenses.
While Taylor has some convincing arguments to hold the lead at this stage of the season, Smith-Njigba is building a case of his own in the long run. Anything can happen in the final seven games of the regular season, so doing unprecedented things could be the deciding factor in the end.
After Smith-Njigba’s latest leading effort, he added an unprecedented feat to his OPOY resume, becoming the first player in league history to total 75 receiving yards in each of the first 10 games in the season.
Smith-Njigba's season low in receiving yards was 79 in the first meeting with the Arizona Cardinals. He’s had at least 93 yards in every other game, eclipsing the century mark in seven games. The NFL record for that feat is 11 games, held by three players: Michael Irvin, Calvin Johnson, and Cooper Kupp.
Seahawks' Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s volume is fueling one of the league’s most historic runs
Smith-Njigba still trails Taylor in the OPOY odds. FanDuel gives Taylor -400 odds while Smith-Njigba is at +250. That’s quite the gap, built mostly by Taylor’s touchdown count. He has 15 scores on the ground, putting him in striking distance of LaDanian Tomlinson’s 2006 record of 26.
Conversely, Smith-Njigba only has five touchdowns this season. So, his volume has to be overwhelming to have a shot at jumping in front of Taylor.
The 75 yards in 10 games stat is a bit cherry-picked, to be fair, but it does point to the trends that Smith-Njigba is setting with his volume. After all, he certainly has a chance to break the record for total 100-yard games in a season and eclipse the 2,000-yard mark for the first time in league history. He’s currently on pace for 1,949, which would narrowly surpass Kupp’s OPOY season, but not the NFL record held by Johnson.
Johnson’s record-setting year in 2012 is becoming all too familiar in this race. That year, Adrian Peteson won the award over Johnson after falling nine yards short of Erik Dickerson’s single-season rushing mark.
With Taylor on pace to fall just short of 2,000 yards himself and just shy of Tomlinson’s touchdown record, it wouldn’t be too surprising if Taylor wins out over JSN similarly to Peterson over Johnson.
Nonetheless, the shiny award can’t take away the fact that Smith-Njigba is on a heater, putting in one of the most impressive seasons in the history of his position. And while Seattle lost its lead in the NFC West this week, thanks to the efforts of a talent like Smith-Njigba, the Seahawks are still in a strong position as a team as the postseason approaches.