AJ Terrell named Falcon’s winner for Walter Payton “Man of the Year” Award

Staff Reports

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – A.J. Terrell Jr. has been named the Atlanta Falcons club winner for the 2025 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, the team announced today. Considered one of the most prestigious honors, the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award recognizes an NFL player for outstanding community service activities off the field, as well as excellence on the field.   Award

Terrell has made giving back to his community a defining part of his NFL career since being drafted to his hometown team in 2020 and has taken full advantage of being back in Atlanta since the day he arrived. Through his involvement in team events, Terrell felt compelled to engage with the community in his own way, and with that, he started the A.J. Terrell Jr. Foundation, with a mission to advance Atlanta’s future by investing in its greatest asset – its youth. Through the values of systemic awareness, sustainable change, creative collaboration and empathic leadership, his foundation has quickly made an incredible impact. With its signature program and events – the A.J. Terrell Jr. Academy and Crownucopia – the foundation has made a significant imprint on the future of young athletes, as well as women and children experiencing homelessness. 

The A.J. Terrell Jr. Academy, a school-based leadership and academic coaching program that serves high school student-athletes in under-resourced communities, trains academic athletic coaches who are placed directly into schools to work one-on-one with students on academic progress, time management, college planning and life skills. Since launching in 2023, the Academy has supported over 600 student-athletes across two high schools, enabled 90% of participants to maintain academic eligibility, helped students achieve an average 25% GPA improvement over baseline, delivered over 400 hours of academic coaching, mentorship, and workshops, hosted leadership sessions with professional athletes, coaches, and educators, and connected students with college tours, NIL readiness tools and financial literacy education. 

In October of 2025, Terrell hosted his first “Mr. Atlanta Roller Ball,” a celebrity skating experience to raise funds for the A.J. Terrell Jr. Academy, helping to double the reach to more than 800 students by 2026. This past summer, the A.J. Terrell Jr. Foundation also supported youth through the CAMP HBCYouth’s field days. Terrell has invested over $50,000 in growing this partnership to provide extracurricular activities in the summer to those who couldn’t afford it otherwise. In July 2025, Terrell sponsored and participated in a field day with CAMP HBCYouth at Morehouse College. This event included a football camp, leadership development and other activities for pre-K through fifth-grade students. 

For the second year in a row, Terrell hosted his Crownucopia event at the Atlanta Mission: My Sister’s House and provided over 245 women and children with care packages and a hot meal. He also provided a holiday meal and giveaways to over 300 men at the neighboring shelter, the Atlanta Mission: Shepherd’s Inn, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. To date, Terrell has donated over $1 million to the Atlanta community. 

On the field, Terrell has allowed just 20 receptions and zero touchdowns in 10 games played this season, recording seven passes defensed along with 44 tackles (29 solo). Terrell has forced a tight window percentage on 28.6% of targets, according to Next Gen Stats. Opposing quarterbacks have just a 55.4% completion percentage when targeting Terrell this season.  Since entering the league in 2020, Terrell has started all 88 games he has appeared in and has tallied 357 tackles (262 solo), 56 passes defensed, six interceptions, 13 tackles for loss, four forced fumbles, two quarterback hits, one sack and one fumble recovery. He became the first rookie cornerback to record an interception and three forced fumbles in franchise history in 2020 and was named second-team AP All-Pro in 2021. 

All 32 club winners will be recognized for their achievements during the week leading up to Super Bowl LX in the Bay Area. The national winner of the 2025 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award presented by Nationwide will be announced during NFL Honors, a primetime awards special airing on Thursday, Feb. 5. 

Each of this year’s club winners supports a range of causes and initiatives off the field, including uplifting underserved communities, empowering young people to lead healthy lifestyles and many other notable causes. The charitable beneficiary of each team’s club winner will receive up to $40,000, and the nonprofit chosen by the overall national winner will receive up to $250,000. All funds are donations courtesy of the NFL Foundation and the Nationwide Foundation. 

Fans are once again encouraged to participate in Nationwide’s annual Charity Challenge, a social media and online contest that allows fans to show support for their favorite Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year club winner. Fans can vote on X/Twitter by posting #WPMOYChallenge along with the full name/X handle of their chosen player or by voting directly on NFL.com/ManOfTheYear. The charitable beneficiary of the player who receives the most collective hashtag mentions and online votes will win an additional $35,000 donation from Nationwide, with the nonprofit partners of the runner-up and third-place finishers receiving $10,000 and $5,000, respectively. Charity Challenge voting takes place from Dec. 4 through Jan. 5, 2026. 

Beginning Week 14 and continuing through the end of the season, each of this year’s club winners, including Terrell, will wear a special Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year helmet decal in recognition of their accomplishments on and off the field.  

For more information about the award, please visit NFL.com/ManOfTheYear.