Jaxon Smith-Njigba is heading to the Super Bowl - and in a twist that’s sure to sting in Dallas - he’s taking the Cowboys’ star with him. Literally.
No, Smith-Njigba hasn’t switched teams. He’s still a key piece of the Seattle Seahawks’ offense, who are set to face off against the New England Patriots in this year’s Super Bowl. But the Texas native has a tattoo of the Cowboys’ iconic star inked on his right arm, a nod to his roots in Nacogdoches and the team he likely grew up watching.
And that ink? It’s about to be on full display under the brightest lights in football - something the actual Cowboys haven’t experienced in three decades.
The Cowboys haven’t played in a Super Bowl since January 1996, when they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers to cap off a dynasty run. Since then, it’s been a long, frustrating stretch for Dallas - one that hasn’t even included a return trip to the NFC Championship Game. So seeing their logo represented on the Super Bowl stage, even in tattoo form and on the arm of a player from another team, is bound to stir up some feelings.
But Smith-Njigba isn’t the only one in Seattle with a Cowboys connection - or with a little extra motivation.
Veteran defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, who spent a decade in Dallas, made waves this past offseason when he left for Seattle and openly said he didn’t believe he’d ever win a Super Bowl with the Cowboys. That comment raised eyebrows at the time.
Now? It’s starting to look prophetic.
Lawrence has been a force on the Seahawks’ defensive front all season, and now he’s got a shot at the ring he never got in Dallas - while his former team didn’t even make the playoffs.
It’s a storyline that practically writes itself. Two players with deep ties to the Cowboys - one by birth, the other by career - are now part of a Seahawks team that’s doing what Dallas hasn’t been able to do for decades: reach the Super Bowl.
For Cowboys fans, this might feel like salt in an old wound. But for the rest of the football world, especially those who’ve grown weary of Dallas’ perennial hype without results, it’s a bit of poetic irony.
The Cowboys’ star is going to the Super Bowl. Just not the way anyone in Dallas would have drawn it up.