Alex Smith: Kansas City Chiefs QB Nominated For NFL Sportsmanship Award

The league has announced that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith is one of eight finalists for the NFL Sportsmanship Award.

Per NFL.com:

"Each team nominated one of its players for the award, which recognizes players who best exemplify outstanding sportsmanship on the field, including fair play and respect for the game.A panel of Warrick Dunn, Curtis Martin, Karl Mecklenburg and Leonard Wheeler, who are all part of the NFL Legends Community, selected the eight finalists from the 32 nominees."

In addition to the award, the winner will receive $25,000 to donate to a charity of his choice.

Smith has long been regarded as one of the league’s most charitable athletes. And while plenty of stars showcase their generosity before the camera, that tends to change when the red light vanishes.

Callum Borchers of The Boston Globe notes:

"A foundation started by New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez gave only 1 percent of proceeds to charity during its first year of operation in 2006, then stopped submitting mandatory financial reports to the IRS and was stripped of its tax-exempt status. Yet the group’s website still tells visitors the A-Rod Family Foundation is a nonprofit organization. …Some athletes are almost as good at bringing attention — and money — to important causes as they are at their sports. A nonprofit founded by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, for instance, raised $839,244 between 2008 and 2010 and spent 91 percent of the funds on scholarships and grants to help foster teens attend college and transition to adulthood."

To put that into context, nonprofit specialists, per Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle, claim that a charitable foundation should allocate at least “65 to 75 percent of proceeds to its cause.”

Whether you love or hate Smith on the field, it’s clear that there are few better leaders off of it.

The award recipient will be announced on Jan. 31—one night prior to Super Bowl XLIX.