Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award

Shortly after Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton died (having been the 1977 recipient himself), the award was renamed to honor his legacy as a humanitarian.

[1] The NFL Man of the Year trophy was created in 1969 by artist Daniel Bennett Schwartz, depicting a nondescript caped lineman standing alone on the sidelines, outside of game action.

[2][3] Since 2017, previous winners who are currently active in the league wear a patch depicting the trophy on their uniforms for the rest of their NFL careers.

The current active winners (in chronological order) are Calais Campbell, Russell Wilson, Dak Prescott, and Cameron Heyward.

winners have also been acknowledged during the Super Bowl pre-game ceremony before "America the Beautiful" and "The Star-Spangled Banner".

Walter Payton rushing the ball against the New Orleans Saints on October 7, 1984, the day he broke Jim Brown 's record for both 100-yard games and overall rushing yardage
J. J. Watt , the 2017 Walter Payton Man of the Year award recipient. The special uniform patch is visible.
Larry Fitzgerald , 2016 co-recipient, with team captain uniform patch (player's right), and Man of the Year patch (player's left).