Dustin Colquitt named Kansas City Chiefs Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year
By Matt Conner
Veteran punter Dustin Colquitt has been honored by the Kansas City Chiefs as their 2018 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year.
On Thursday morning, it was announced the Kansas City Chiefs had named veteran punter Dustin Colquitt as their 2018 Walter Payton Man of the Year.
Every year, each team will nominate a single player to potentially win the ultimate award to be named the Dustin Colquitt honored by Chiefs. It’s an honor that symbolizes a player’s contributions off the field as a major player in the local community to help with civic work and charitable organizations.
If Colquitt wins the larger prize from the NFL, a donation of $250,000 will be given to the United Way’s Character Playbook programs and another $250,000 donation will go to the player’s favorite charity. Just by being named as the team’s representative to the larger field of contenders, Colquitt will already receive $50,000 in his name toward each endeavor with hopes for the larger prize still to come—good news so that Colquitt can further his work.
For the last 12 years, Colquitt has worked with an organization called Team Smile and currently sits on their Board of Directors. Nearly 8,000 under-served children will receive important dental work this year alone through Colquitt’s efforts. Even more impressive, per a press statement, “Since 2007, Colquitt’s TeamSmile leadership has ensured that 40,000 children have received more than $18M in complimentary dental and preventative care services and education.”
Colquitt has remained active in a number of charities during his career with the Chiefs, but Team Smile will be his charity of choice moving forward with any awards received due to the Walter Payton Man of the Year award.
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Colquitt is the longest tenured player on the Chiefs roster as the team’s former third-round pick from the 2005 NFL Draft. The 36-year-old is enjoying 45.1 yards/punt as a net average although he’s punting far less than ever before due to the Chiefs’ offensive efficiency. In his 14th season, Colquitt’s previous low in total punts was 65. Through 12 games in 2018, he’s only punted 34 times.