Corey Peters named Arizona Cardinals Walter Payton Man of the Year

There are few people in this world who give back and care as much as Corey Peters.

That is why he has been awarded the Arizona Cardinals 2020 NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year.

From the team:

The award is in recognition of outstanding community service activities off the field as well as excellence on the field, and as a nominee, Peters will receive a $40,000 donation in his name to the charity of his choice.

Peters is one of 32 NFL “Man of the Year” recipients to qualify for the league’s national 2020 “Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year” award. For the third consecutive year, all 32 team winners will be highlighted as nominees and recognized for their important work during the weekend leading up to Super Bowl LV. The 2020 “Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year” will be announced at NFL Honors, a primetime awards special to air on CBS during the week of Super Bowl LV. The winner will receive a $250,000 donation to the charity of his choice.

All of the “Man of the Year” nominees will wear a helmet decal beginning this weekend through the end of the season to recognize their accomplishments on and off the field. Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and the other five current players (Drew Brees, Calais Campbell, Thomas Davis, J.J. Watt and Jason Witten) who have previously been named the national “Man of the Year” will continue wear a jersey patch to recognize their outstanding contributions to the game and community.

In 2012, Peters established his foundation, the Peters Education Enrichment Project (PEEP), to make a difference in the communities close to him while developing life skills and empowering future leaders. Since joining the Cardinals in 2015, he has continued that commitment in Arizona by consistently volunteering at community service events in addition to his foundation work.

Peters and his foundation have been particularly impactful in Phoenix’s South Pointe School District where he launched a bi-weekly book club, providing lunch and hosting in-person discussion with high school students. The Corey Peters Playbook continued virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic with current and former teammates – including Calais Campbell, the 2019 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year – joining the book club meetings.

This past November, in partnership with Harvest Compassion Center, Peters and his foundation donated Thanksgiving turkeys to families in the South Pointe School District. In July, Peters teamed up with UnitedHealthcare and Harvest Compassion Center to distribute care packages containing toiletries, hygiene products, clothes, school supplies and food items to 150 South Pointe families in need. Consistent with his efforts to feed the less fortunate, Peters also became an ambassador for Feed the Children, a non-profit organization whose mission is to end childhood hunger.

Earlier this year, during the week of Super Bowl LIV in Miami, Peters worked with the “Kids In Need Foundation,” a non-profit organization preparing children to learn and succeed in the classroom by providing free school supplies. He helped deliver backpacks and school supplies to Fisher Elementary School in the Miami-Dade County Public School District.

Peters has also been active within the youth football community in Arizona, establishing the Corey Peters “Lineman Challenge” and hosting specialized skills camps for high school level offensive and defensive linemen. During the 2019 offseason, he participated in a Gatorade Jr. Training Camp in Gilbert for 150 special needs students, and he currently serves on a local sports panel that selects the weekly Arizona Cardinals High School Coach and Player of the Week.

Peters has led efforts among teammates to create meaningful change in areas of social justice, prison reform and the education system. In 2018, Peters was among a small group of Cardinals players to join team owner Michael Bidwill for a meeting with Arizona Governor Doug Ducey on criminal justice reform, and this year, he partnered with the NFL to encourage citizens in Arizona and his home state of Kentucky to register and vote.

Congratulations to Corey Peters on a much deserved award.