NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award: Full list of winners
The award, which was created in 1969 by artist Daniel Bennett Schwartz, honors a player’s excellence inside and outside the pitch. Here’s the full list of winners.
Most of the time, players who lift top trophies or prove decisive in key games or finals, end up being recognized with other titles or prizes, many times in the form of MVP honors.
While winning is seen as the ultimate goal in world sports, an athlete can also be seen or recognized as a champion or a role model not only because of being brilliant while performing but because of positively contributing to society.
Every year, a panel of judges, which includes the Commissioner of the NFL, the previous year’s winner, and former players choose the winner of the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, named after Chicago Bears running back after he died to honor his legacy outside the pitch.
Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott won the award at the annualNFL Honors from Symphony Hall in Phoenix, Arizona, days ahead of Super Bowl LVII.
Prescott, a two-time Pro Bowler, is the fourth Cowboys player to win the award, following Hall of Fame quarterbacks Roger Staubach (1978) and Troy Aikman (1997), and former teammate Jason Witten (2012).
“Thank you to the NFL, to Commissioner [Roger] Goodell, to Nationwide for recognizing the impact that we as NFL players can have off the field,” the quarterback said after receiving the award.
Dak Prescott.
The Walter Payton Man of the Year is league’s highest honor.
Dak has been through hell and back and has used his platform to change lives.