Linsley Nominated for Walter Payton Man of the Year

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Center Corey Linsley is the Green Bay Packers’ nominee for the prestigious Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.

Named after the legendary former Chicago Bears running back, the award is presented to a player in recognition of his outstanding community service activities off the field and excellence on it.

Linsley and his wife, Anna, have made their mark in the community through their work with Court Appointed Special Advocates of Brown County. Children under the age of 12 aren’t given a voice in the court system. That’s where a CASA advocate steps in. Volunteers are assigned by juvenile judges to advocate exclusively on behalf of a single child or sibling group. CASA advocates conduct regular, face-to-face visits with their child or children, make independent, objective observations about the child’s safety and well-being, and submit a monthly report to the judge to help that judge make decisions about the child’s future.

CASA volunteers often are the only consistent adult presence in the lives of abused and neglected children, many of whom are in foster care.

“It was awesome,” Linsley said before wearing CASA-inspired shoes for the My Cause, My Cleats campaign in 2018. “I hate to say we got as much out of it as the kids but we did. We learned from them. You learn so much and they eventually found out what I did, so that was kind of funny to see that. It’s so great to see the kids. They’re honestly just children, as simple as that sounds. They’re living in their own world and they’re so happy and full of life. To see that is refreshing to know that you’re helping out good kids.”

The Linsley family has helped direct donations to CASA from the Packers and the NFL social justice initiative, totaling $100,000 in the last two years, and they have served as state spokespeople for Wisconsin CASA, attending special events and appearing in PSAs and advertisements. Linsley also raised money for the family of his “bike kid,” Travis Kohlbeck, when the family faced health challenges.

Here is the full list of nominees. It includes former Packers tight end Jimmy Graham (Chicago Bears) and Green Bay native Alec Ingold (Las Vegas Raiders).

Each nominee will receive a donation of $40,000 in their name to their charity of choice. The winner will receive a $250,000 donation to the charity of their choice.

As a nominee, Linsley 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.

For the sixth year, each Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee will also take part in the Charity Challenge, a social media challenge that encourages fans to post on Twitter using a unique hashtag for each player. The player hashtag that generates the most mentions between Dec. 10 and Jan. 17 will win an additional $25,000 donation to the charity of his choice, with the runner-up receiving $10,000 and the third-place winner receiving $5,000. Fans can support Linsley by tweeting with the hashtag #WPMOYChallenge + Linsley to help him earn the donation.

More information about the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award can be found at http://www.nfl.com/manoftheyear.

Note: Linsley will speak with reporters after Thursday's practice.