Why J.J. Watt has been named the Walter Payton Man of the Year

The recipient for this year’s Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award was pretty much decided up before the 2017 NFL season even began. On Saturday night, the NFL announced that Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt had been given the award, much thanks to his incredible millions in donations he garnered for Hurricane Harvey relief late last summer.

In late August, Watt set out to donate $200,000 to the hurricane victims in Houston and the surrounding affected areas. He took to social media to seek out donations through his J.J. Watt Foundation.

“It’s very difficult, not only because we have family and friends back there,” Watt said. “Some guys have young kids. Some guys have wives and families. But that’s our city. It’s very tough to watch your city get hit by such a bad storm and not be there to help.”

What started as a goal of $200,000 ended up coming out to a whopping $37,097,248 from more than 200,000 donors. He kept the fundraiser going for a couple of weeks after he opened it in late August.

“So what I do want to do is, I want to start a fundraiser, because I know that these recovery efforts are going to be massive,” Watt said. “I know that there are going to be a whole bunch of people we need to help get back on their feet. I know there’s going to be a lot we need to do to help rebuild.”

First established in 1970, the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award recognizes an NFL player for his excellence on and off the field. It was renamed after Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton in 1999. NFL teams nominate a player who has positively impacted his community. Watt’s on-field season for 2017 was cut short, as he suffered a tibial plateau fracture against the Kansas City Chiefs in early October.

Watt’s fundraiser kept reaching goals of $500,000, $1 million, $2 million, and more, it getting to a point where Watt eventually closed it down. Congrats to the Houston Texan, who is quite deserving of the award.