Rob Gronkowski, Larry Fitzgerald among 32 nominees for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award

One of the NFL’s most prestigious awards recognizing player contributions off the field.

Dec 7, 2016, 3:10 PM UTC

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Every season, each NFL team nominates one player from their roster for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award presented by Nationwide. This award acknowledges a player for his excellence on and off the field and was named after Chicago Bears running back, Walter Payton, who died in 1999.

The winner will have a total of $1 million donated in his name. $500,000 will go to a charity of his choice and another $500,000 goes to supporting the expansion of the United Way’s Character Playbook Program.

The other two finalists will each receive a $125,000 donation to the charity of their choice and a $125,000 donation in their names to Character Playbook. The additional 29 team winners will receive a $50,000 donation to their charity of choice and an additional $50,000 donation to Character Playbook in their club market. Donations will be courtesy of the NFL Foundation, Nationwide, and United Way Worldwide.

There will be three nominees selected as finalists for the award in January. After that a winner will be announced in Houston at NFL Honors, a two-hour primetime awards special to air nationally on Feb. 4, the night before Super Bowl LI, from 8-10 p.m. (ET and PT) on Fox.

Here is the list of the 32 nominees:

New England Patriots: Rob Gronkowski

Arizona Cardinals: Larry Fitzgerald

Atlanta Falcons: Matt Ryan

Baltimore Ravens: Steve Smith Sr.

Buffalo Bills: Eric Wood

Carolina Panthers: Greg Olsen

Chicago Bears: Sam Acho

Cincinnati Bengals: Andy Dalton

Cleveland Browns: Joe Thomas

Dallas Cowboys: Sean Lee

Denver Broncos: Virgil Green