Jaxon Smith-Njigba in January 2026. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST HOSTED BY ANNABELLE HASSELBECK, FEATURING JAXON SMITH-NJIGBA
Jaxon Smith-Njigba was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 2024 and 2025, and last year led the NFL in receiving yards and was named the NFL Offensive Player of the Year. He had 10 receptions, 153 receiving yards and a touchdown in the NFC Championship Game victory over the Los Angeles Rams and ultimately led the Seahawks to a Super Bowl LX title.
Today on the podcast, JSN joins Annabelle Hasselbeck to talk about his incredible 2025 season, signing a new four-year extension in March to make him the highest-paid NFL receiver in history, trusting in God’s plan, growing in his faith in Jesus, and believing the best is still yet to come.
BREAKING: Seahawks, WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba agree to terms on 4-year, $168.6M extension with $120M guaranteed, making him the highest paid WR in the NFL. (via @RapSheet) pic.twitter.com/krdA4gMRVe
Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Despite going 13-4 and winning the AFC South a season ago under first-year head coach Liam Coen, the Jacksonville Jaguars have largely flown under the radar in offseason talks about potential Super Bowl contenders. Many experts predict the Jaguars to take a significant step back in 2026-27.
But as Coen enters his second year at the helm, with quarterback Trevor Lawrence returning, he believes his team can not only replicate last season’s success but continue to improve on it. If they do, it will mark the Jaguars’ first back-to-back postseason appearances this century.
“In everything that we do, we are training to say, ‘Anyone, any time, any way,'” Coen said as he addressed his team during the first week of training camp. “We built the standard and the foundation and the way that we want to play the game.”
At 40 years old, Coen is one of the younger head coaches in the NFL, and he’s also a member of the famed Sean McVay coaching tree; Coen learned under the Los Angeles Rams head coach as a position coach for three years (2018-20) and the offensive coordinator for another (2022). In 2024, Coen was the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and helped fuel the career renaissance of QB Baker Mayfield. In his first year in Jacksonville last season, he became the NFL’s first rookie head coach to win 13 or more games after his team won four or fewer games the prior season.
During Coen’s coaching journey, he’s established himself as an offensive mastermind and a skilled quarterback developer. He’s also made it known during his time in the spotlight that he’s a follower of Christ.
Coen was a guest on the “Built 4 More” podcast last week with pastor Joby Martin and Denny Thompson, where the coach discussed one of the most difficult experiences of his life and how Christ formed his faith through the trial.
Coen grew up as an only child in Rhode Island, where he was a football fanatic and very close with his mother, Beth. But when Liam was in high school, Beth felt something was off. After numerous appointments, the doctors concluded that she’d contracted Lyme disease. The former marathon runner now struggled to get out of bed each morning. The physical pain was excruciating, and there was little improvement. But the emotional toll grew unbearable.
Four years later, in 2006, Coen was chasing his gridiron dream in college at UMass. He returned home during a school break, and his dad was in the hospital with congestive heart failure. While Coen was at the hospital with him, his mother took her own life.
Coen needed to care for his dad in the immediate aftermath, and then he rushed to return to school and join his team. Suddenly, he was back on a college campus, going to classes and practices like nothing had changed.
“I didn’t probably deal with it right, or well, in that short term,” Coen admitted on the podcast.
But this was different than anything he’d experienced before. The pain of losing his mother in the way he did wasn’t going away.
“Come to find out, 10 years down the road, it creeps up on you when you don’t deal with it,” he said on the podcast. “You don’t process it, you don’t forgive, you don’t have grace. It started to eat at me, and I didn’t know why. I didn’t know what was really happening. I wasn’t feeling right.”
He found people to talk through his traumatic past, and amidst those sessions, Jesus became a frequent topic of conversation. Coen had attended a private Catholic high school and learned many of the rituals, but he had never truly discovered the essence of Christianity.
“I actually began to have a relationship with Jesus Christ,” he said of that time. “And oh my gosh, I started to have more grace, and I started to forgive, and I started to have a little bit more understanding of what she went through and why.”
He had been given new life in Christ.
That new life was only strengthened during his time as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Kentucky (2021, 2023) through the ministry of the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) chapter. There, Coen was introduced to a man who handed him a small but extremely helpful packet about the Bible.
“I didn’t know what Jesus did,” Coen said on the podcast. “I didn’t know what He sacrificed. I didn’t know why He was truly put on this earth.”
Coen’s story of unthinkable pain followed by the power of healing found in Christ is a testimony of God’s goodness that he’s shared with his team and those close to him.
“Once I understood [true faith] and learned and was educated, I felt a different vibe,” he concluded. “I felt a different way of wanting to represent God — Jesus Christ, myself, my family, the way that I carry myself, the grace or honesty that you live life with.
“Perfect? Absolutely not. No question. But I know that it helped me when I actually built a relationship with a Power greater than myself in Jesus Christ.”
find someone who looks at you the way Liam Coen looks at Parker Washington
Now, in the hyper-competitive world of NFL football, with a nation’s eyes soon falling again on his sport, Coen has an opportunity to point others to Christ — the Fountain of true life — both in the 2026-27 season and beyond. Jacksonville’s first preseason game is Aug. 15 in New Orleans.
Mike Macdonald in February 2026. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST HOSTED BY JASON ROMANO, FEATURING MIKE MACDONALD
Mike Macdonald was named the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks in 2024 and immediately made a big impact, leading the Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship in 2025-26. Prior to becoming the Seahawks head coach, he was a longtime assistant coach with the Baltimore Ravens, Georgia Bulldogs and Michigan Wolverines.
Today on the podcast, Mike Macdonald shares about winning the Super Bowl, developing a culture in Seattle, being outspoken about his faith, and what it means to “run it forward” in 2026.
Former Florida and NFL quarterback Danny Wuerffel (second from right) with the "Donaldsonville Ball" at the 2025 Desire Street Ministries fundraiser. (Photo courtesy of Danny Wuerffel)
The ballroom at TPC Sawgrass was filled with the sound of applause, tears and reverence as the Donaldsonville Ball was auctioned for $130,000 at the annual Desire Cup, hosted by the Wuerffel Foundation. The sale pushed its value to $500,000, making it the most expensive autographed football ever recorded.
What makes this football unique is that it isn’t signed by a Heisman winner or a Hall of Famer. Instead, the signatures belong to children in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, from the ministry that Danny Wuerffel volunteered at during his time with the New Orleans Saints.
“Every single human being has value, dignity and worth,” said Wuerffel, the executive director of Desire Street Ministries and 1996 Heisman Trophy winner. “I love football because it’s a team sport, and I think that life is a team sport. But the reality is we live in a world where we create an ‘us and them’ narrative when we look at people, so I hope this story pushes back against that narrative.”
Let’s rewind a few years back to the beginning of how this football came to life in the small town of Donaldsonville.
After winning the Heisman Trophy at Florida, Wuerffel was drafted by the Saints in 1997. It was there that he began volunteering in the impoverished Desire Street neighborhood. Later in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina destroyed Desire Street Ministries’ facility, Wuerffel took charge, helping locate students and rebuild the New Orleans community center.
In 2007, Desire Street partnered with a local church that worked with children from troubled homes at the Donaldsonville recreation center. The group invited Wuerffel to speak at the event. At the end of the night, to express their gratitude, the children signed a football and gave it to Wuerffel.
Wuerffel kept the ball on his desk for years as a reminder of the children he met and their generosity.
So grateful for @espn@ESPNCFB for sharing the story about how this football presented to me by kids from Donaldsonville, LA has helped us all remember we’re each created in God’s image and are valuable. Our @DesireStreet partners are supported by amazing donors. pic.twitter.com/oqylCKulTz
Fast forward to 2011, the Wuerffel Foundation put on the Desire Cup, a fundraiser for Desire Street Ministries that happens in conjunction with the Florida-Georgia football game. The weekend includes a gala and an auction followed by a shotgun golf tournament the next day.
At that year’s gala, a football signed by Wuerffel and Georgia legend Herschel Walker sold for $10,000. The next day, Wuerffel had an idea.
“Danny brought up the idea about auctioning off the Donaldsonville Football,” said James Gadsby, the chief operating officer of Desire Street Ministries and executive director of the Wuerffel Foundation. “He talked about how much the ball meant to him because of what the kids did to show their appreciation for him coming. He wondered whether anyone would even pay $5 for a ball that meant so much to him. His inspiration came from the belief that every person has infinite worth, created in God’s image, so he took a risk and put it up for auction.”
The next year at the Desire Cup, Wuerffel auctioned off the football and held his breath waiting for the crowd’s response.
“I never expected it to be this influential,” Wuerffel said. “I was really confident in the value proposition but at the same time, I was scared to death that nobody else would see it, so it felt a little risky.”
That night, the Donaldsonville Ball sold for $11,000 and the first winning bidder was announced, David Hodges.
Throughout the year, Hodges kept the ball on his desk as a reminder. Then Hodges himself had an idea.
“The next year, David reached out to Danny and offered to donate it back so that it could become an annual tradition,” Gadsby said. “It was an incredibly gracious and generous offer from him.”
Every year since, the Donaldsonville Ball has been the final item auctioned at the Desire Street gala as a constant reminder that every person has worth and value.
The ball not only raises money for Desire Street, but it touches the people who win it.
“David was the first to notice that when people asked about the football and he told them the story, they were moved by it,” Wuerffel said. “That really set the tone. Over the years, people have shared how they display it, what it means to them and their guests, and how the story continues to spread positivity.”
A few years into its journey, the ball reached a significant milestone.
“Some of the leading voices in autograph memorabilia told us that it was valued more than any football ever signed,” Wuerffel said. “And I thought, ‘Are you kidding me?’”
Going into the 2025 Desire Cup in October, the Wuerffel Foundation had a goal: to get the ball to be worth half a million dollars (the amount spent on it during the auction over the years). To make it to this goal, the ball had to be auctioned off for $130,000.
The event started and old players, coaches, friends and fans mingled around the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, until they were all called into the main room for dinner. Following a series of announcements and activities, the evening reached its final portion — the auction.
Several items were sold before the one everyone anticipated: the Donaldsonville Ball. The room fell silent as every head turned to Wuerffel, who stood on stage sharing his hope and dream of reaching a half-million-dollar valuation. He explained the mission behind the football and the message it represents.
Then the bidding began.
Before long, two donors — Hugh and Kalah Hathcock, and Kevin Edmonson — came together and split the amount, officially getting the Donaldsonville Ball to $500,000.
The room erupted in applause, and every seat was emptied as a standing ovation filled the room. It was a moment marked in history that all came from a simple idea from Wuerffel with a dream to get the message across that every person has value.
“To hit a half a million dollars, that’s incredible to be a part of, and it was so special that night. The people who really went out of their way to help get it there meant a lot,” Wuerffel said.
The story doesn’t end there, though. The inaugural winner, David Hodges, was unable to attend the gala last year, but he informed Wuerffel that he would like to support half of the $130,000 needed to reach the milestone. Thus, the other two donors covered the rest. A perfect full-circle moment.
With the football now valued at $500,000, the question becomes: What happens next?
With the Florida-Georgia game moving to Atlanta from Jacksonville, so too will the Desire Cup, Oct. 29-30, followed by the game on Oct. 31 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“We’ve been thinking about retiring the ball, but there’s been so much continued positivity,” Wuerffel said. “We had a person challenge us, saying, ‘Your ball has lived a long life cycle at this particular event, but there’s other events that you’re at that you could share this story.’”
Whether the ball is retired or keeps on raising money for Desire Street Ministries, it will never lose its legacy.
It started as an idea from Wuerffel that was rooted in humility and care for others, and now a football most people wouldn’t pay just $5 for is the most expensive signed football in history.
“As a person, this story is so touching,” Gadsby said. “Even though I’ve seen the video [shown at the event] dozens of times, at the end it says, ‘I’m no one important but if my signature can help in that way, that’s a blessing.’ I still tear up watching that.”
