The NFL announced on Wednesday that Anquan Boldin is the San Francisco 49ers nominee for the 2015 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award.
The honor is given annually to the player who best exhibits a commitment to philanthropy and community impact as well as excellence on the football field.
One player from each NFL team is nominated for the award. From there, the 32 men will be narrowed down to three finalists in January 2016. The winner will be announced during the fifth annual NFL Honors award show airing the night before Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 6. The panel of judges includes commissioner Roger Goodell, former commissioner Paul Tagliabue, Sports Illustrated writer Pete King, Connie Payton and the 2014 award recipient, Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis.
Each of the 32 team nominees receives a $5,000 donation to their charity of choice. The two runner-ups will receive an additional $6,000 donation, and the winner will receive an additional $50,000 donation.
This marks Boldin's second consecutive Man of the Year nomination. The veteran wide receiver was a finalist last year along with Davis and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
This fall, the Anquan Boldin Foundation distributed five $10,000 scholarships to high school graduates in Florida and San Francisco. His annual Q-Festival, which features a celebrity golf tournament, a celebrity basketball game and a signature community day in the park, raised more than $100,000 in April 2015. Boldin has also been involved with Oxfam America since 2010, traveling to Ethiopia and Senegal and later testifying in Washington D.C. on behalf of Senegalese rights. Through his foundation, the 35-year-old has handed out thousands of turkeys at Thanksgiving, purchased thousands more toys at Christmas and launched an eight-week summer enrichment program for students who need courses to catch up academically. Boldin also donated $1 million last year with his wife for future scholarships.
"(Boldin) is very much deserving," Davis told 49ers.com earlier this year. "It's tremendous what he's doing in the community. The lives he's been able to impact, it leaves me in awe."
To learn more about Boldin's work in the community, read this feature story from 49ers.com. To help support Boldin, tweet using the hashtag #BoldinWPMOYChallenge. The player who generates the most mentions will win a $20,000 donation to his charity of choice from Nationwide.
Other nominees include Patrick Peterson of the Arizona Cardinals, Steve Smith Sr. of the Baltimore Ravens, J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans, Eric Berry of the Kansas City Chiefs and Delanie Walker of the Tennessee Titans.
