Bruce Irvin is Raiders Walter Payton Man of the Year Award nominee

Each NFL team’s nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award was announced today. This year’s nominee for the Raiders is linebacker Bruce Irvin.

Considered one of the League's most prestigious honors, the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award presented by Nationwide recognizes an NFL player for outstanding community service activities off the field as well as excellence on the field.

“We are all very proud of Bruce and his work in the community,” said Raiders Head Coach Jack Del Rio. “Bruce has immersed himself in community initiatives throughout the Bay Area. It is very important to the Raiders to be able to give back and we always encourage our players to look for opportunities to serve. Bruce is a great example of someone being involved and helping to make a difference in their community.”

This year Irvin hosted his Third Annual Bruce Irvin Football Clinic in Charleston, West Virginia, providing the chance for kids in the area to learn from current NFL players.

Along with his own charities, Irvin often assists his teammate’s efforts. He was a volunteer coach at Michael Crabtree’s annual youth football camp in Dallas, Justin Ellis’ youth football camp in Monroe, Louisiana, former Seattle teammate Michael Robinson’s Charity Weekend in Richmond, Virginia, volunteering as a coach for the youth football camp as well as serving as a celebrity waiter during the charity dinner.

Many lucky Raiders fans also know he fulfilled a summer Twitter campaign in which he promised to sign every Bruce Irvin jersey fans mailed to him.

He also is a regular part of team charity events. Here are a few:

• Volunteered with the Alameda County Community Food Bank’s Mobile Pantry with his teammates, helping distribute food to 157 low income families for a total of 564 including 187 children
• Visited Oakland UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital along with the rest of the defensive line
• Participated in the team’s Crucial Catch community event the Raiders’ Alameda Facility during which players and 15 Breast Cancer survivors and their guests were led through a step-by-step group art lesson to create custom Crucial Catch themed artwork.
• As part of the NFL’s Unity Campaign, Irvin and two teammates joined 30 members of the Girls Inc. of Alameda County’s Advocating Change Together program.
• Was a driving force in encouraging his teammates to make financial contributions to help the relief efforts for those effected by the Northern California wildfires.

Here are the nominees from the other 31 NFL teams:

Arizona CardinalsPatrick Peterson

Atlanta FalconsBen Garland

Baltimore RavensBenjamin Watson

Buffalo BillsLorenzo Alexander

Carolina PanthersGreg Olsen

Chicago Bears Sam Acho

Cincinnati Bengals Michael Johnson

Cleveland Browns Randall Telfer

Dallas Cowboys Travis Frederick

Denver Broncos Chris Harris Jr.

Detroit Lions Haloti Ngata

Green Bay Packers Clay Matthews

Houston Texans J.J. Watt

Indianapolis Colts Darius Butler

Jacksonville Jaguars Malik Jackson

Kansas City Chiefs Alex Smith

Los Angeles Chargers Casey Hayward

Los Angeles Rams Rodger Saffold

Miami Dolphins Kenny Stills

Minnesota Vikings Kyle Rudolph

New England Patriots Nate Solder

New Orleans Saints Cameron Jordan

New York Giants Mark Herzlich

New York Jets Quincy Enunwa

Philadelphia Eagles Malcolm Jenkins

Pittsburgh Steelers Cameron Heyward

San Francisco 49ers Bradley Pinion

Seattle Seahawks Michael Bennett

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Clinton McDonald

Tennessee Titans Wesley Woodyard

Washington Redskins Nick Sundberg

Three of the nominees will be selected as finalists for the national award. Finalists will be announced in January 2018.

The winner will be announced during NFL Honors, a two-hour primetime awards special to air nationally on Feb. 3, the eve of Super Bowl LII, at 9 PM (ET and PT) on NBC. NFL Honors will be taped earlier that evening at the Cyrus Northrop Memorial Auditorium at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

$500,000 dollars will be donated in the name of the 2017 winner. $250,000 will be donated to the winner's charity of choice and $250,000 will be donated in his name to expand Character Playbook across the country. The two other finalists will each receive a $100,000 donation to their charity of choice and a $100,000 donation in their names to expand Character Playbook. All other 29 nominees will receive a $50,000 donation to their charity of choice and an additional $50,000 donation in their names to expand Character Playbook. All donations are courtesy of the NFL Foundation, Nationwide and United Way Worldwide.