And then there were four. The Conference Championship Games in the NFL have been set, with the winners of the two games coming up on Sunday securing a spot in Super Bowl LX. No matter who wins the two games on Sunday,
one thing is for certain. A former Ohio State player will be a part of the team that wins the Super Bowl, marking the second straight season a former Buckeye gets his hands on the Lombardi Trophy.
Not only will Ohio State have an alum win an NFL Championship as an active player this year, but they could also see a former Buckeye lead a team to a title. If Vrabel is able to win it all in his first season as New England’s head coach, he will be the first former Ohio State player to win a Super Bowl as a head coach. The closest to achieving the feat was Sid Gillman, who led the San Diego Chargers to the AFL Championship in 1963.
Today, we want to know which former Ohio State player(s) are going to win this year’s Super Bowl. The New England Patriots have the most scarlet and gray representation with two players and a coach on this year’s squad. The Los Angeles Rams have two players, while the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks each have one former Buckeye suiting up for them.
Maybe you are rooting for a certain player to be able to call themselves an NFL champion, or maybe your favorite team is one of the four still alive. It will be interesting to hear who is getting the most love from Buckeye Nation when it comes to fulfilling a childhood dream of winning the Super Bowl.
Today’s question: Which former Ohio State player(s) win this year’s Super Bowl?
We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.
Brett’s answer: Jaxon Smith-Njigba
As a Buffalo Bills fan, there is no way I can bring myself to root for the Denver Broncos or the New England Patriots. Sorry to Jonathon Cooper, TreVeyon Henderson, Thayer Munford Jr., and Mike Vrabel. So that leaves the Los Angeles Rams or the Seattle Seahawks. I’ll be supporting the Seahawks the rest of the way because of Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
The former Buckeye wide receiver has had an incredible season, totaling nearly 1,800 yards for Seattle in Sam Darnold’s first season as quarterback with the team. After a bit of a slow start as a rookie in 2023, Smith-Njigba has become a breakout star over the past two seasons, catching at least 100 passes in both 2024 and 2025. The emergence of Smith-Njigba allowed the Seahawks to trade D.K. Metcalf to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the offseason, making JSN the top target in Seattle.
It would be great to see Smith-Njigba help the Seahawks win the Super Bowl since the former Buckeye didn’t truly get to enjoy his final season in Columbus. At the end of the 2021 season, Smith-Njigba had a performance for the ages at the Rose Bowl, catching 15 passes for 347 yards. C.J. Stroud and JSN were supposed to be a top quarterback/receiver duo in the country in 2022, but Smith-Njigba suffered an injury in the season opener against Notre Dame that limited him to just three games during the season, and kept him out of the College Football Playoff loss to Georgia.
If Smith-Njigba goes on to win the Super Bowl this year with the Seahawks, it’s hard not to put him at the top of the wide receiver rankings in the NFL right now. Not only will Smith-Njigba have posted one of the best regular seasons by a receiver in league history, but he will also have an NFL title. That’s something that Ja’Marr Chase, CeeDee Lamb, and pretty much all of the other wideouts that are named in the conversation as the best at the position can say. What is even scarier is that JSN will only turn 24 a few days after the Super Bowl, so he is only going to get better over the next few seasons.
Matt’s answer: TreVeyon Henderson
I’m not going to lie, it’s difficult for me to root for anyone associated with the New England Patriots. Years and years of TTUN alum Tom Brady being the quarterback in Foxborough have conditioned me to automatically associate the Pats with evil. However, that has obviously changed, especially with Buckeye legend Mike Vrabel now running the franchise that he helped win three Super Bowl rings.
So, because of Vrabes’ position with the team, I have found myself more open to rooting for the Patriots this season, but that has only been enhanced by the fact that Buckeye great TreVeyon Henderson put together an eye-popping first season in New England.
In the regular season, the running back went for 911 yards on 180 carries, good for 5.1 yards per carry. He notched nine touchdowns and 45 first downs, while adding 221 receiving yards, another touchdown, and seven more first downs.
Henderson was a guy who came to Columbus with all of the hype you could imagine for a running back, and had a great freshman season, and then never seemed to quite meet expectations as a sophomore or junior. However, by returning to campus as a senior, he helped the Buckeyes have one of the most complete offenses in recent memory. As part of the stable of veteran Buckeyes who came to run it back and win the national championship, he will always hold a special place in my heart.
So, to see him immediately have an impact as a rookie, playing behind Rhamondre Stevenson, has been tons of fun. And, of course, it doesn’t hurt that a Super Bowl for Trey would also mean Vrabel’s first as a head coach, and one for rotational offensive lineman Thayer Munford.
I might never be able to stomach saying, “Let’s go Pats!”, but I am comfortable rooting for the three former Buckeyes in New England.
