The annual Walter Payton Award, which has been given out each year since 1970, will be given out during Super Bowl week. The award represents not only excellence on the field, but excellence off the field when it comes to charity and volunteer work. Last year, the winner was Houston Texans defensive lineman JJ Watt. This year, the field is wide-open as their are 32 finalist as listed right here:
| Arizona Cardinals | Antoine Bethea | |
| Atlanta Falcons | Grady Jarrett | |
| Baltimore Ravens | Brandon Carr | |
| Buffalo Bills | Lorenzo Alexander | |
| Carolina Panthers | Julius Peppers | |
| Chicago Bears | Trey Burton | |
| Cincinnati Bengals | Carlos Dunlap | |
| Cleveland Browns | Christian Kirksey | |
| Dallas Cowboys | Dak Prescott | |
| Denver Broncos | Von Miller | |
| Detroit Lions | Matthew Stafford | |
| Green Bay Packers | Kenny Clark | |
| Houston Texans | Whitney Mercilus | |
| Indianapolis Colts | Jabaal Sheard | |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | Blake Bortles | |
| Kansas City Chiefs | Dustin Colquitt | |
| Los Angeles Chargers | Corey Liuget | |
| Los Angeles Rams | Andrew Whitworth | |
| Miami Dolphins | Kenny Stills | |
| Minnesota Vikings | Kyle Rudolph | |
| New England Patriots | Devin McCourty | |
| New Orleans Saints | Mark Ingram | |
| New York Giants | Michael Thomas | |
| New York Jets | Kelvin Beachum | |
| Oakland Raiders | Marshawn Lynch | |
| Philadelphia Eagles | Chris Long | |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | Cameron Heyward | |
| San Francisco 49ers | Robbie Gould | |
| Seattle Seahawks | K.J. Wright | |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Gerald McCoy | |
| Tennessee Titans | Jurrell Casey | |
| Washington Redskins | Vernon Davis |
The winner will have $500,000 donated in his name along with $250,000 being donated in his name to expand Character Playbook, the NFL and United Way’s digital character education program. An additional donation of $250,000 will also be donated to the charity of his choice. All other 31 nominees will receive a donation of $50,000 in their name to expand Character Playbook along with an additional donation of up to $50,000 to their charity of choice. All donations are courtesy of the NFL Foundation, Nationwide and United Way Worldwide
The 2018 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year will be announced during NFL Honors, a two-hour prime-time awards special to air nationally on Feb. 2, the eve of Super Bowl LIII, on CBS. NFL Honors will be at Fox Theatre in Atlanta.
There are plenty candidates and it could go one of 32 ways. It will be interesting to see who comes away with this prestigious award.
