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Roman Harper nominated by the New Orleans Saints for Walter Payton Man of the Year Award

Last year, Benjamin Watson found himself in the final three. This year, Roman Harper looks to become the first Saints player to win since Drew Brees in 2006.

By John J. Hendrix
NFL: Preseason-New Orleans Saints at Houston Texans Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The New Orleans Saints have nominated veteran safety Roman Harper as a Walter Payton Man of the Year.

This was commonly referred to as the NFL Man of the Year Award prior to 1999, but the unexpected passing of the great Walter Payton sparked the name change to honor his legacy. Each NFL team has a representative selected as a nominee. A panel of judges that consists of commissioner Roger Goodell, Connie Payton (widow of Walter Payton), last season’s winner (Anquan Boldin), and a host of former players all select the winner.

Three finalists will be announced in January 2017. Nationwide, the presenting sponsor of the Award, will host the second annual Charity Challenge. As part of the social media challenge, each nominee will have a unique hashtag, and fans will be encouraged to tweet using the player hashtags. The player hashtag that generates the most mentions will win an additional $25,000 donation to his charity of choice, courtesy of Nationwide.

Past Winners

Harper has been doing excellent work through his foundation Harper’s Hope 41. You can read more on the list of nominees here:

Since 2009, Harper launched #ReadingwithRoman, an incentive-based reading program for students in grades Kindergarten-9th grade. He also hosts annual, free football camps and kids days. Another of his major endeavors include a celebrity waiter dinner, to raise funds that will support his other charitable programs including 41 days of Christmas and Kleats for Kids. His new program, Mini Teacher Grants, will provide many of the necessary items for teachers' classrooms that are sometimes a struggle for them to purchase. Harper's most recent activity was his Substitute Teacher for the Day initiative, where he taught Psychology, Algebra, English, Industrial Technology, and Sociology. He feels that an individual, who gives of his time, makes the greatest impact of a child's life.

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