If the Ohio State Buckeyes needed another proof point for WRU in the NFL era, Jaxon Smith-Njigba just handed them one.
In early February, he didn’t merely become another former Buckeye receiver thriving on Sundays. He became the headline, the league’s Offensive Player of the Year. Smith-Njigba posted a dominant regular season where he led the NFL in receiving yards (1,793) and posted 119 catches and 10 touchdowns.
Add in the Seattle Seahawks finishing the job with a Super Bowl win over the Patriots,
and the conversation shifts from Ohio State develops elite WRs to Ohio State produces the league’s best.
The NFL resume is getting louder, not quieter
The bigger point isn’t just one star season. It’s the accumulation, and how many different types of NFL receivers Ohio State keeps churning out.
This past year alone, Chris Olave put up a true WR1 stat line (100 catches, 1,163 yards, 9 TD), while Emeka Egbuka delivered immediate high level production (63 catches, 938 yards, 6 TD) that matches the “plug-and-play” reputation Ohio State wideouts now carry into the league.
Even the guys who didn’t have a clean runway still matter to the thesis. Garrett Wilson, in a season disrupted enough by injury to keep his totals down, still produced efficiently when available (36 catches, 395 yards, 4 TD in seven games). Marvin Harrison Jr. flashed impact in limited availability (41 catches, 608 yards, 4 TD in 12 games), the kind of baseline that tends to explode once health and rhythm stabilize.
Put those next to Smith-Njigba’s OPOY season, and WRU stops being a slogan. It becomes the simplest explanation for why so many NFL receiver rooms either already have or are looking for a Buckeye “answer” on the depth chart.
The next wave of WRU
The other reason JSN’s moment hits harder is the timing. Ohio State’s current pipeline is still stacked with future Sunday players.
With Carnell Tate already looking like a top ten pick this summer and Jeremiah Smith building a trajectory that looks generational, the program isn’t selling nostalgia, it’s selling inevitability. Add Chris Henry Jr. as the next blue-chip name stepping into the system, and the NFL’s current Buckeye production starts to look less like a peak and more like the new normal.
That’s the real WRU case. It’s not about producing a single superstar, it’s about sustaining excellence. Even as one former Buckeye reaches the very top of the NFL, others are thriving across the league, and the next generation in Columbus is already positioning itself to follow.
It’s not a moment — it’s a pipeline.
