Darren Waller is Raiders Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee

Tuesday every NFL team announced their nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. And the Raiders have a good one — Tight end Darren Waller.

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.

Waller has come a long way. Transforming his life and his NFL career. And he turned right around and put that same effort into helping others.

His community efforts are numerous, seeming to give equal time to community outreach as he did to football and his music.

Most notably, last year he founded the Waller Foundation in 2020 to equip youth to avoid and overcome addiction to drugs and alcohol and support youth and their families during their recovery and treatment journey.

His efforts go well beyond his foundation’s goals. They include hosting a youth football camp, volunteering at mobile food bank, honoring military veterans and their families,

This year Waller earned the “Tyler Robinson Foundation Inspiration” award during the Rise Up Gala, which raised over $2.6 million to strengthen families financially and emotionally as they cope with the tragedy of a pediatric cancer diagnosis by offsetting out-of-pocket life expenses.

Waller was very featured on the NFL’s announcement of all 32 Man of The Year nominees.

Fans can vote on Twitter by using #WPMOYChallenge and WALLER.

The player whose unique hashtag is used the most between Dec. 7 and Jan. 17 will receive a $25,000 contribution to his charity of choice, while the second and third place finishers will receive $10,000 and $5,000 donations, all courtesy of Nationwide. New this year, votes posted on Jan. 4 and 5 count twice and the first player to reach one million votes receives $10,000 for his charity.