There is no more outgoing player on the Browns than LB Anthony Walker Jr.
Walker is always talkative (as evidenced by his role as the defense’s green sticker player), and laughing with his teammates (as evidenced by him regularly jumping in and trying to disrupt their press conferences).
It’s why it’s fitting that when Kevin Stefanski began his Wednesday presser by praising Walker for a couple of big accolades — being named the team’s Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee and the Browns’ 2023 Ed Block Courage Award recipient — he threw in a little joke of his own.
“I don’t know if you guys know, but he was out of practice last week, last Wednesday, and just to overcome ordering oysters on DoorDash,” Stefanski said. “Think about how hard that is to overcome. And he did. I don’t know if that factored into the voting by his teammates, but I just want to acknowledge that fact.”
Jokes aside, Stefanski is the first to admit how vital Walker has been to this team, throughout the community, and how impressive his recovery has been after suffering a season-ending injury in 2022, rupturing his quad tendon.
“And then his teammates, which I think is a big deal, voted him the Ed Block Courage Award winner, which that’s always when it’s voted on by your peers, I think it means something really special. And for him to come back from the injury that he had, those are hard. And to rehab the way he did and to come back and play well for us again, huge impact.”
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Walter Payton Man of the Year is one of the league’s most prestigious accolades, and acknowledges NFL players who excel on the field and off the field through their community involvement. All 32 nominees from each team will be recognized for their achievements during Super Bowl week. The award winner will be announced during NFL Honors on Thursday, Feb. 8.
For Walker, it’s an honor to be chosen knowing what it means for a player’s legacy, and what it says about how they give back to the community.
“The Walter Payton Man of the Year is very prestigious,” Walker said Wednesday. “Growing up you see Super Bowls, you see NFL MVP, all that stuff. But the Man of the Year is something that kind of sticks with you a little longer, that legacy that you want to leave in the community and stuff like that. So very thankful for that”
Walker has become a face of the organization’s Stay in the Game! Attendance Network, which aims to decrease chronic absenteeism. He featured the initiative this past weekend for My Cause, My Cleats. Ahead of the game, he visited a local elementary school where 15 students had the opportunity to help design his cleats.
Walker also works with the Browns’ Foundation team on promotional videos for school attendance and participates in most of the Stay in the Game! school visits.
It’s an award, Walker admits, in a perfect world he would never have been considered for.
“The Ed Block Courage Award, obviously not an award that you want to be up for,” Walker said. “It means you got hurt and you got to come back from injury. But I think I’m stronger from it and that’s a testament to my teammates, honestly. Me being here every day with those guys last year going through rehab, those guys really got me through. So I’m very thankful to those guys and for their nomination for that award as well.”
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