This year’s candidates for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year are out, and Jared Goff is the Detroit Lions’ nominee.
Each NFL team’s nominee for this year’s Walter Payton Man of the Year are out. For the Detroit Lions, quarterback Jared Goff is the nominee.
The Lions’ signal caller talked about the honor in a statement.
"It’s an incredible honor and something I’m proud of and don’t take for granted. It’s important to lend a hand, not only financially but with your energy, and show the community that you’re going to be a part of their lives and a part of the solution. It’s about the people you’re giving back to and it’s about wrapping your arms around a community and wrapping your arms around kids and making sure you’re there for them, and I’m proud to be able to do it. Being a leader in the community and being a leader on our team and this organization, you want to be able to help, and there’s so many places you can in Detroit.”"
Jared Goff is a worthy nominee for Walter Payton Man of the Year
Goff’s work in the community goes back to his time with the Rams, and he has been active in the community through his two years as a Lion.
This year, his JG16 brand partnered with the non-profit Give Merit’s FATE program to design clothing. Goff matches 100 percent of the profits to support FATE, which rewards 175 Detroit youth working on real-life business projects with a scholarship upon completion of the program.
Goff has also worked with the Detroit Lions Academy, an alternative middle school providing over-age students a path to graduation. In 2022, funds from the quarterback’s clothing line helped established a STEAM Lab (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) at the school.
As a nominee, Goff will wear a Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year helmet decal through the end of the season in recognition of his accomplishments on and off the field.
The 2022 Walter Payton Man of the Year will be announced during NFL Honors, on the Thursday before Super Bowl LVII.