KANSAS CITY – The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award is a prestigious honor that recognizes the differences that players across the league make in their communities off the field. On Tuesday morning, the National Football League announced the 32 players nominated for 2021. The winner will be announced on the Thursday before the Super Bowl. Amongst this year’s nominees, the Kansas City Chiefs’ candidate is safety Tyrann Mathieu. The following excerpt can be found on his official nomination page on NFL.com:
“Through his Tyrann Mathieu Foundation, Tyrann has been focused on serving and uplifting communities in his home state of Louisiana and in each of the cities he has played in professionally – Arizona, Houston, and Kansas City. His endeavors are tangibly noticeable in many of his signature philanthropic activations. From the distribution of school supplies at the start of the school year to taking under-served youth on a shopping spree as the fall unfolds to doling out turkeys leading into Thanksgiving to providing a special surprise dinner and gifting experience for families leading into the holidays, Tyrann and his Foundation annually are making a mark in his adopted midwestern home. Likewise, though similar efforts aimed at mentorship and uplifting the youth, Tyrann has engrained himself in his native New Orleans thanks to those examples of giving back to the same communities that reared him during his formative years.
In March of 2020, Tyrann and his foundation joined forces with the local food bank, Harvesters, and donated 30,000 meals to families affected by COVID-19. As grocery stores struggled to replenish products and the demand for meals was at an all-time high, Tyrann felt the need to take action. His pandemic-relief efforts continued as Tyrann partnered with Kansas City’s 610 Sports Radio to broadcast a virtual, day-long event to continue helping those experiencing hardship from the pandemic. The event welcomed many celebrity guests at the top of each hour to help bring awareness and raise funds. Proceeds raised from the radiothon benefited Hope House (who provides domestic violence victims with shelter & comprehensive services), ReStart (who has provided unique programming that allows this organization to act as the only homeless agency in Kansas City to support all homeless populations), and The BMA Foundation (an advocate for Children’s Charities and Animal Welfare).
Some ten days following the murder of George Floyd, Tyrann and several star players from throughout the League publicly supported the Black Lives Matter movement via a social video that went viral and quickly gained support from Commissioner Roger Goodell, Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt, and others in leadership around the League and the globe. As the season neared, he had an active voice on the team’s Leadership Council as they worked with the organization to form an action plan to engage the urban core further. Tyrann and his teammates identified and provided feedback on ways to better engage three specific areas: diversity education in schools, minority-owned business support, and voter registration/activation efforts. This directly resulted in GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium serving as a voting location for 2,111 individuals, making it the largest polling site in Kansas City election history. He was also one of a few players to address the team during its RISE to Vote educational session about the importance of voting and was a voice on the team’s voting PSAs, which resulted in 22.7M impressions and 1.6MM engagements.
Tyrann continued that focus on the voting initiative via his Foundation, especially in light of the upcoming general election. To celebrate National Voter Registration Day in 2020, he leveraged his celebrity to invite Kansas City residents to flex their freedom by registering to vote. Teaming with the KC Election Board, Rock the Vote, and Harvesters – The Community Food Network, Tyrann hosted a voter registration and food distribution event in the city’s urban core. The event kicked off with private food distribution for 320 families, a nod to Tyrann’s jersey number, 32. These families had the opportunity to register to vote, apply for a mail-in ballot, and vote early, in-person as an absentee voter.”
The 2021 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year will be announced during NFL Honors on the Thursday before Super Bowl LVI. All 32 candidates, including Mathieu, will receive $40,000 in donations to their charity of choice. The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award winner will receive an additional $250,000 donation to their charity of choice.
The Charity Challenge aspect to the Walter Payton Man of the Year award will also return for the seventh year in a row. This allows fans to vote on Twitter by using #WPMOYChallenge with the last name or Twitter handle of their player of choice. The winner will receive a $25,000 contribution to their charity of choice, and the second and third place winners will get contributions of $10,000 and $5,000, all courtesy of Nationwide.
Voting will begin on Tuesday, December 7, and will be open thru Monday, January 17.
