Bobby Wagner, a 10-time Pro Bowler and six-time All-Pro whose off-field work is as impressive, was named the 2026 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year on Thursday night at NFL Honors.
The 14-year veteran has had more than 100 tackles in each of his seasons, setting a standard for linebacking excellence on the field. He has set an example off the field.
Wagner’s mother, Phenia Mae Wagner, died years before he was drafted by the Seahawks in 2012 due to stroke complications. He created the FAST54 Phenia Mae Fund in partnership with Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, Cedar Sinai, National Children’s Hospital and Kaiser Permanente. It’s a fund that helps stroke patients, while also promoting stroke education.
In addition to his efforts with the Phenia Mae Fund, Wagner has also advocated for social justice reform and mental health, participated in the NFL’s Inspire Change and brought his commitment to entrepreneurship and business to local teens with his Tackle Everything Tech Tour. He recently completed his third tour in Washington, D.C.
He played 11 seasons and won a Super Bowl with the Seahawks, spent 2022 with the Rams and has played for the Commanders the past two seasons. During his career, Wagner was a Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee four times.
The NFL’s highest award debuted in 1970, with iconic Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas winning the inaugural award.
The award recognizes an NFL player for his outstanding community service along with excellence on the playing field.
In 1977, Bears running back Walter Payton was the recipient. The award was renamed in the Hall of Famer’s honor in 1999, the same year the revered Payton died at 46 due to bile duct cancer.
The winner of the award receives up to a $250,000 donation to the charity of his choice, while each of the 32 club nominees receives up to a $40,000 donation to his chosen charity.
Wagner is the first Washington player to be christened NFL Man of the Year since Hall of Famer Darrell Green in 1996.
The Commanders have a new defensive line coach.
According to multiple reports, they are hiring Eric Henderson to fill that role on Dan Quinn’s staff. Henderson will also have the run game coordinator title.
Darryl Tapp was the defensive line coach during the 2025 season and Nicki Jhabvala of TheAthletic.com reports that he will now be the team’s assistant defensive line coach.
Henderson was the co-defensive coordinator, defensive line coach and run game coordinator at USC for the last two seasons. He was the Rams’ defensive line coach for five seasons before moving to the college ranks. He also worked for the Chargers earlier in his career.
Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy is bringing in a familiar face to help run the team’s defense.
Per Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, Joe Whitt Jr. is joining Pittsburgh as assistant head coach/secondary coach.
Whitt previously served under McCarthy with the Packers from 2008-2018. After initially joining the club as a defensive quality control coach, he was promoted to cornerbacks coach in 2009 and defensive passing game coordinator in 2018.
He then worked under McCarthy again with the Cowboys from 2021-2023 as defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach before following Dan Quinn to the Commanders in 2024 to work as the team’s defensive coordinator. But Quinn took back defensive play-calling duties midway through the 2025 season before dismissing Whitt after the conclusion of the season.
Any NFL Network (or, as of Saturday, ESPN) employees who are brainstorming questions for Commissioner Roger Goodell’s annual Super Bowl press conference on Monday should probably tread lightly, when it comes to one specific topic.
Former NFL Media reporter Jim Trotter found himself out of work after posing pointed questions to Goodell regarding NFL Network newsroom employment practices during consecutive Super Bowl press conferences. Trotter’s contract was not renewed. Trotter sued.
“The NFL has claimed it wants to be held accountable regarding diversity, equity and inclusion,” Trotter said in a statement when he filed the lawsuit. “I tried to do so, and it cost me my job.”
The NFL settled the case. Since then, however, “DEI” has been Frank Luntz’d into a rallying cry against the principles that underpin the acronym. Over the past year, the current administration has aggressively attacked DEI programs, in both public and private employment.
Enter the NFL’s now-completed hiring cycle (unless Klint Kubiak gets a case of Josh McDaniels-style cold feet). Of the 10 new head coaches, only one is a minority: Titans coach Robert Saleh. None are Black.
When Brian Flores sued the league and multiple teams, four years ago Sunday, the civil complaint included a lengthy quote from NFL executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent regarding the league’s long-term deficiencies when it comes to hiring Black coaches in a sport composed predominantly of Black players.
“There is a double standard, and we’ve seen that,” Vincent said. “And you talk about the appetite for what’s acceptable. Let’s just go back to . . . Coach [Tony] Dungy was let go in Tampa Bay after a winning season. . . Coach [Steve] Wilks, just a few years prior, was let go after one year . . . Coach [Jim] Caldwell was fired after a winning season in Detroit . . . It is part of the larger challenges that we have. But when you just look over time, it’s over-indexing for men of color. These men have been fired after a winning season. How do you explain that? There is a double standard. I don’t think that that is something that we should shy away from. But that is all part of some of the things that we need to fix in the system. We want to hold everyone to why does one, let’s say, get the benefit of the doubt to be able to build or take bumps and bruises in this process of getting a franchise turned around when others are not afforded that latitude? . . . [W]e’ve seen that in history at the [professional] level.”
The open hostility to DEI from the top of the nation’s government has sparked a general backlash, emboldening some to throw the letters around like some new form of slur. And so, given that the Rooney Rule (which the NFL has not abandoned) continues to be the league’s primary device for encouraging diversity, equity, and inclusion, the current climate will not be welcoming to any arguments advanced on the basis that the concerns spelled out by Troy Vincent continue to linger.
Three years ago, NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith co-authored an article in the Yale Law and Policy Review pointing out the failure of the NFL and its teams to face accountability for a situation in which the raw numbers speak volumes. Smith’s article called for, among other things, an admission that the Rooney Rule has failed — and the elimination of it.
“The NFL faces neither shareholder nor consumer accountability,” the article explained. “There is no public board of directors, there are no public compliance or audit reports, there are virtually no federal or state mandated public disclosures, nor government operational oversight. All of this should be surprising — and profoundly troubling — given the tax benefits, special antitrust treatment, stadium funding, and other publicly enabled benefits that the NFL and its member teams have enjoyed for generations.”
For at least the next three years, there will be no governmental oversight. If anything, the league faces scrutiny for continuing to maintain the Rooney Rule. The cancellation of the league’s 2025 accelerator program prompted concerns that the NFL is pulling back its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Goodell, when pressed about the development in May, displayed sensitivity on the subject.
It all sets the stage for Monday’s Super Bowl press conference. What will Goodell be asked about the latest hiring cycle? About the accelerator program? About the league’s commitment to a subject about which it claims to remain vigilant, at a time when any vigilance may invite a late-night, all-caps, thank-you-for-your-attention-to-this-matter attack from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?
The Broncos are getting closer to finding a new offensive coordinator.
Via reporter Jordan Schultz, Denver has interviewed Commanders assistant head coach/passing game coordinator Brian Johnson for the vacancy.
Johnson, 38, served as Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator in 2023 but was fired after one season. He had previously been the team’s quarterbacks coach from 2021-2022 with Shane Steichen serving as offensive coordinator.
He has been with Washington under head coach Dan Quinn since the 2024 season, helping Jayden Daniels become AP offensive rookie of the year.
The Broncos fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi earlier this week. The team’s offensive pass game coordinator/QBs coach Davis Webb is regarded as one of the favorites to land the job.
