Carolina quarterback Teddy Bridgewater becomes second Panther to win Art Rooney Award
Carolina Panthers quarterback Teddy Bridgewater won the NFL’s Art Rooney Award, which recognizes players for “outstanding sportsmanship on the field.”
Each team nominates one player for the award, which is voted on a panel of NFL players. Bridgewater was the Panthers’ nominee.
The award, which is named after former Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney Sr., was founded in 2014. Bridgewater is the second Panthers’ player to win it. Retired linebacker Luke Kuechly won it in 2017.
Bridgewater signed a three-year deal, $63 million deal with the Panthers during the 2020 offseason. He started in 15 games during the 2020 season, throwing for 3,733 yards and 15 touchdowns with 11 interceptions.
As a winner of the award, Bridgewater will receive $25,000 from the NFL foundation to go to a charity of his choice.
Defensive Rookie of the Year
Five voters thought Jeremy Chinn deserved to be the Defensive Rookie of the Year for the 2020 season. However, there are 50 voters, and Washington rookie defensive end Chase Young was the overwhelming favorite.
Young received 42 1/2 first place votes for the AP’s Defensive Rookie of the Year award. Chinn received 4 1/2. ESPN reporter Chris Mortensen, one of the voters, said he split his vote between Chinn and Young.
Young was expected to win the award. The Observer conducted a survey of voters of the award 13 games through the season. At the time, of the 21 voters who responded, seven said they were leaning toward Young and two said they were leaning toward Chinn. Some said they were undecided.
Young finished with 44 tackles, 7.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and a defensive touchdown. He had a forced fumble and a fumble recovery against the Panthers in Week 16.
Chinn, who was drafted in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft, was a safety in college at Southern Illinois, a Football Championship Subdivision program. But he primarily played Sam linebacker with the Panthers.
He led the Panthers with 117 tackles. He also had five pass deflections, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, two defensive touchdowns and one interception.
Baltimore’s Patrick McQueen and Tampa Bay’s Antoine Winfield also received votes.
Walter Payton Man of the Year
Panthers linebacker Shaq Thompson was one of 32 nominees up for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, which recognizes players for their leadership and charity and volunteer work.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, who played for N.C. State and Wisconsin, won the award.
The Panthers nominated Thompson because of the leadership he showed this past offseason, said Riley Fields, the director of community relations for the Panthers.
“It was how Shaq has stepped forward this year on his own to make a difference in both the Charlotte region and his home city of Sacramento, California,” Fields said. “When we looked at the volume of work that he’s done through his own efforts, and the different causes that have been really important to him, I think he became really a clear nominee.”
Last summer, Thompson was one of a number of players who marched the streets of Charlotte to peacefully protest social injustice and police brutality. He was also part of a group that met with the then-Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department chief Kerr Putney in an effort to bridge the gap with police and the Black community.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, he helped deliver meals to families living in motels and to healthcare workers working overtime.
Thompson’s motivation for giving back is his mother, Patrice Thompson, who died in October 2019.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates
This story was originally published February 6, 2021 at 10:14 PM.
