Tom Brady found himself conflicted over who should receive his LFG Offensive Player of the Year award for the 2025 season. The decision came down to Rams receiver Puka Nacua and Seahawks wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and it’s easy to see why Brady had a hard time separating the two.
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It’s no secret that Nacua and Smith-Njigba were dominant this year. The Rams star led the NFL with 129 receptions and finished second in receiving yards with 1,715. Smith-Njigba, meanwhile, paced the league with 1,793 receiving yards while hauling in 119 catches. Each also scored 10 receiving touchdowns.
Given the impact both had on their respective offenses, Brady chose to split the OPOY award, deciding both deserved their flowers. He began by explaining his choice with praise for Nacua.
“Puka, what can I say about him? Tremendous catches, his body control, his yards after catch, those suction cup hands of his. He’s made some of the most ridiculous plays this season,” Brady said in a video posted by Fox Sports.
Nacua has certainly turned into one of the league’s most feared receivers. He broke records in his rookie season, then still nearly eclipsed 1,000 yards as a sophomore while battling injuries. In year three, he truly established himself as one of the game’s best by consistently getting open and delivering big plays.
On the other hand, JSN had a year-three breakout of his own, and Brady could not overlook his impact.
“Then JSN, like a hundred plus catches, one-handed catches in the championship game. Big catches, touchdown catches. He was Darnold’s, I don’t even want to say safety blanket, he was his explosive player. He did everything for that team in the pass game,” Brady noted.
The Seahawks receiver showed exactly what he could do as the primary option in the offense. After DK Metcalf left, there were doubts in Seattle about the receiving group. Smith-Njigba erased those concerns and now has his team headed to the Super Bowl.
@TomBrady couldn’t pick just 1 #LFG Offensive Player of the Year, so he went with 2!
Congratulations to @RamsNFL WR @AsapPuka and @Seahawks WR @jaxon_smith1 pic.twitter.com/TMqoTtvT2m
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) February 1, 2026
It’ll be interesting to see who ends up winning the actual AP OPOY award. Both Nacua and JSN are solid contenders for that as well. But they will have stiff competition from the likes of Drake Maye, Christian McCaffrey, and Bijan Robinson.
If we had to predict the outcome, we could see JSN taking home the award. As Brady said, he was everything for the Seahawks’ offense this season. Without him, they would not be in the Super Bowl. He backed that up with some jaw-dropping catches in the NFC Championship Game against the Rams.
But Maye is also very much in the mix, especially as a potential consolation if he does not win MVP. It would be hard to imagine a season like this passing without the New England quarterback winning a major award.
