Madison “Madi” Adams, while battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), visits with New Orleans Saints punter and kickoff specialist Thomas Morstead in her hospital room on September 17, 2013.
For his charity work benefiting children and people battling cancer, punter Thomas Morstead deserves to win this season’s Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, the Saints said Tuesday.
The Saints honored Morstead as their team’s man of the year, and that enters him into consideration for an award presented by Nationwide insurance that recognizes one NFL player for both outstanding community service and success on the gridiron.
Through his “What You Give Will Grow” foundation, which he started in 2012, Morstead raises funds, holds events or makes appearances in hopes of showing anyone he encounters that charity both touches those on the receiving end and inspires others to give similarly. He has said he focuses on children’s charities and cancer initiatives in part because he was raised by his parents in a tight-knit family and because his mother survived a breast cancer diagnosis when he was younger.
An example of the work he does in his spare time away from the Saints is host birthday parties for abused or neglected children he is acquainted with through Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Jefferson. Married and raising a young son with his wife, he recently launched what he dubbed his “Gameday Heroes program,” which gives pediatric cancer patients the opportunity to have a behind-the-scenes experience leading up to and at a Saints game. His foundation purchased new instruments for local elementary school music bands.
However, the Saints also put Morstead up for the Payton award because of what he contributes to the special-teams coverage units. Morstead and the Saints this year have held opponents to 3.3 yards per punt return, the lowest in the NFL. Also, Morstead’s average of 42.6 net yards per punt is fourth in the NFL.
Morstead handles kickoffs for the Saints as well. He’s been on the team since 2009, when he helped the Saints win Super Bowl XLIV as a rookie fifth-round draft choice.
The winner of the Payton award will be announced during the fourth annual NFL Honors show on Jan. 31. The show will be broadcast on NBC beginning at 9 that night. The NFL’s Man of the Year will receive a $25,000 donation in his name to a charity of his choice from both the NFL Foundation and Nationwide ($50,000 total). Two other finalists will get $5,000 donations in their names. The other 29 nominees will receive $1,000 donations from the NFL Foundation to their selected charities.
The panel of judges evaluating the 32 nominees for the award include NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, former league Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, Sports Illustrated writer Peter King, Connie Payton, Frank Gifford, Anthony Muñoz and the 2013 Payton Award recipient, Charles Tillman.