The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award recognizes an NFL player for his excellence on and off the field. The award was established in 1970. It was renamed in 1999 after the late Hall of Fame Chicago Bears running back, Walter Payton. Each team nominates one player who has had a significant positive impact on his community. Representing the best of the NFL's commitment to philanthropy and community impact, 32 players are selected as their team's Man of the Year and become eligible to win the national award. The winner of the award each year receives a $250,000 donation to the charity of his choice. All 32 nominees receive up to a $55,000 donation to their charity of choice. All donations are courtesy of the NFL Foundation and Nationwide.
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play their home games at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, a suburb northwest of Phoenix. The team was established in Chicago in 1898 as the Morgan Athletic Club, and joined the NFL as a charter member on September 17, 1920. The Cardinals are the oldest continuously run professional football franchise in the United States, and, along with the Chicago Bears, are the only NFL charter member franchises still in operation. In 1960, the team moved to St. Louis, where it was commonly referred to as the "Football Cardinals", the "Gridbirds", or the "Big Red" to avoid confusion with Major League Baseball's (MLB) St. Louis Cardinals. Before the 1988 season, the team moved to Tempe, Arizona, an eastern suburb of Phoenix, where it played home games for the next 18 seasons at Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University. In 2006, the team moved to their current home field in suburban Glendale, although their executive offices and training facility remain in Tempe. From 1988 to 2012 (except 2005, when they trained in Prescott), the Cardinals conducted their annual summer training camp at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. The Cardinals moved their training camp to State Farm Stadium (then University of Phoenix Stadium) in 2013. The Cardinals have won two NFL championships, both while the team was in Chicago. The first, in 1925, was disputed by supporters of the runner-up Pottsville Maroons. Their second, and the first to be won in a championship game, came in 1947, nearly two decades before the first Super Bowl. They returned to the title game to defend in 1948, but lost the rematch 7–0 in a snowstorm in Philadelphia. The team has since suffered many losing seasons, and, as of 2024, has the longest active championship drought in North American sports at 77 seasons (one more than MLB's Cleveland Guardians, who last won the World Series in 1948). The Cardinals have recorded the most losses by a franchise in NFL history with 803 regular season losses as of 2023. The team's all-time win–loss record (including regular season and playoff games) at the conclusion of the 2023 season was 596–826–41 (588–816–41 in the regular season, 7–10 in the playoffs).[10] They have been to the playoffs 11 times and have won seven playoff games, including three in the 2008–09 NFL playoffs. During that season, they won their only NFC Championship Game since the 1970 AFL–NFL merger, and reached Super Bowl XLIII in 2009, losing 27–23 to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The team has won five division titles (1974, 1975, 2008, 2009, and 2015) since their 1947–48 NFL championship game appearances. The Cardinals are the only NFL team that has never lost a playoff game at home: their 5–0 record encompasses the 1947 NFL Championship Game, two games during the 2008–09 NFL playoffs, one during the 2009–10 playoffs, and one during the 2015–16 playoffs. In their 36 seasons since moving to the Valley of the Sun in 1988, the Cardinals have a total of six playoff appearances, three division titles, and the one NFC championship..
Larry Darnell Fitzgerald Jr. (born August 31, 1983) is an American former football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons with the Arizona Cardinals. He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers, earning unanimous All-American honors in 2003. Fitzgerald was selected by the Cardinals with the third overall pick in the 2004 NFL draft. He is widely considered by fans, coaches and peers to be one of the greatest receivers in NFL history. Fitzgerald has been selected for the Pro Bowl eleven times. He was named first-team All-Pro in 2008 and second-team All-Pro twice in 2009 and 2011. He is second in NFL career receiving yards, second in career receptions, and sixth in career receiving touchdowns. He was named to the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team and NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. Fitzgerald became a minority owner of the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 2020. On February 16, 2022, despite not officially stating that he was retiring, Fitzgerald admitted he was not planning on returning to play in the NFL. Throughout Fitzgerald's NFL career, he caught touchdown passes from 16 different quarterbacks. It was announced that on September 7, 2022, that he was joining ESPN's Monday Night Countdown.
Larry Darnell Fitzgerald Jr. Awards and honors
NFL
- Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year (2016)
- First-team All-Pro (2008)
- 2× Second-team All-Pro (2009, 2011)
- 11× Pro Bowl (2005, 2007–2013, 2015–2017)
- 2× NFL receptions leader (2005, 2016)
- 2× NFL receiving touchdowns leader (2008, 2009)
- NFL 2010s All-Decade Team
- NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team
- Art Rooney Award (2014)
- NFL 100 All-Time Team (2019)
College
- Biletnikoff Award (2003)
- Walter Camp Award (2003)
- Big East Offensive Player of the Year (2003)
- Unanimous All-American (2003)
- First-team All-Big East (2003)
- Insight Bowl champion (2002)
- Pittsburgh Panthers No. 1 retired.
