Packer Central

Packers QB Jordan Love Reacts to Walter Payton Award Nomination 

Jordan Love is the Green Bay Packers’ nominee for the prestigious Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. After he practiced, he talked to Packers On SI about the honor.
Bill Huber|
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) throws the ball against the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) throws the ball against the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – On Thursday, the NFL announced that Jordan Love was the Green Bay Packers’ nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.

The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award is hailed as the league’s most prestigious honor. It recognizes players who excel on the field while creating a positive impact off the field.

Love didn’t create his Hands of 10ve Foundation to win awards.

“I think it’s one of those things where I’ve been trying to do a lot of give-back work and do stuff with my foundation, and it’s something that came along with it,” Love told Packers On SI on Thursday. “I think being here now, it’s a cool award to be nominated for.”

Love is in his third season as the team’s starting quarterback and sixth year in the NFL. He’s come a long way on and off the field.

“I’m sure you guys can speak to this as well as I could in regards (to) what you’ve seen from him,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “First of all, I think he’s a tremendous human being. He was definitely raised the right way. He has a great support system with his family.

“But I also think to watch his development from a young guy coming in here to the man he is today, it’s really cool to be a part of that journey and to watch him grow. For him to embrace what it means to be the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers and what he does for the community and how he helps a lot of kids and people in the community, in general. It’s been really cool to watch.”

Fame and fortune are among the perks of being a professional athlete. More than that, it’s having the platform and the resources to make his mark on the community.

Love hosts football camps in his hometown of Bakersfield, Calif., as well as Milwaukee. With 19 touchdown passes (and counting), he’s pledged to donate new cleats to 38 youth sports teams – 19 in Bakersfield and 19 in Wisconsin – through his 10ve for Cleats Campaign. This week, he hosted a group of kids for a shopping spree.

“That’s always a part of being an NFL player,” Love said. “It’s something I’ve learned and something I was able to see at a young age and have people be my role models and people I looked up to. All that kind of plays a part into it. It’s fun to be able to give back and be able to impact people’s lives.”

Playing quarterback is the ultimate pressure-cooker job. You could hardly blame Love if he decided to focus on football rather than spending some of his precious free time focusing on others.

So, why does he do it? Why is he focused on helping the community?

“I just think it’s cool,” he said. “It’s the platform we have and where we’re at in life to be able to give back, especially to the youth and kids that are coming up and striving to be in the position we’re in now, I think it all just has a positive impact on people’s lives. I think it’s all something that’s important and something that, when I first got here, I was able to see other guys do that.

“To be able to do the work myself, it’s a positive impact and greatly impacts people’s lives. The feedback I’ve got from people who’ve done camps, done different things through the foundation, it’s all good stuff and stuff I want to keep doing.”

Meanwhile, Nationwide’s annual Walter Payton Man of the Year Charity Challenge, a contest that gives fans a way to help their favorite nominees earn additional dollars for their chosen charities, is under way.

Voting will be conducted online at NFL.com/manoftheyear through Jan. 5. Or, post #WPMOYChallenge on X along with either Love’s full name – that’s important because Seahawks defensive back Julian Love is among the nominees – or with his X handle, @jordan3love.

All votes count twice on Dec. 16 and Jan. 2.

Nationwide will donate $35,000, $10,000, and $5,000 to the nonprofit organizations designated by the first-, second-, and third-place finishers, respectively.

“The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award is our league’s most revered honor, celebrating players for their excellence both on and off the field,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “These 32 men represent the best of the NFL, and the incredible contributions they make to their teams and communities every day continue to keep Walter’s legacy alive.”

The Packers let Love know about the nomination in memorable fashion.

“It was cool,” he said. “It was pretty special. Obviously, it’s a pretty cool award to be nominated for. I think the surprise that my mom and my wife did was pretty cool.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.