Getty Devon Kennard celebrates with the Lions defense.
The Detroit Lions have a player on the field who makes a huge impact in Devon Kennard, and the linebacker doesn’t stop there. He makes just as big an impact off the field in Detroit.
For this reason, Kennard was named the Lions’ nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award in 2019.
What is the award all about? Here’s a look at the explanation from the NFL.com page.
“For the second year in a row, all 32 team winners will be highlighted as nominees and recognized for their important work during the weekend leading up to Super Bowl LIV.
The 2019 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year will be announced during NFL Honors, a two-hour primetime awards special to air nationally on Feb. 1, the eve of Super Bowl LIV on FOX. NFL Honors will be at the Adrienne Arsht Center in downtown Miami.
All 32 nominees will receive a donation of up to $50,000 in their name to their charity of choice. The winner of the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award will receive a $250,000 donation to the charity of their choice. All donations are courtesy of the NFL Foundation and Nationwide.”
Obviously, the Lions and their fans hope Kennard can bring this award home so that he gets the most money possible to impact the greatest amount of people. Kennard has already accomplished a ton by being nominated, but a victory would mean a great deal to plenty of folks.
Devon Kennard Not Accepting Lions Losses
As the team has struggled down the stretch, many of folks have given up. That’s not Kennard, who would rather stay and fight, something he says the team has taken to heart.
“I think that’s definitely the message I am portraying to everybody on the team. I think everyone’s on the same page. Let’s go out there and get better every day, improve and still have a lot of football left,” he said. “We have a chance to get better every day and win.”
As Kennard continued to speak, his voice changed. Admittedly, he sounded frustrated about the tailspin the team has been on.
“I’m tired of losing, quite frankly. I’m not a loser,” he said. “I refuse to accept that. So whatever we got to do to fix that, I think the guys in the locker room are with me.”
Spoken like a true leader. Clearly, Kennard is a leader in multiple ways for the Lions.
Devon Kennard Stats
In his career, Kennard has been sneaky productive, and has been a great signing by Bob Quinn since he pulled it off in the 2018 offseason for more reasons than just his leadership.
So far, as a member of the Lions, Kennard has 95 tackles, 13 sacks, 1 forced fumble and 1 touchdown so far in his career. The touchdown came this season against the New York Giants and was a memorable play.
Obviously, Kennard has to revel in the fact that he made this play against his former team. A few years back, Kennard elected to sign with Detroit in free agency, and he’s been another find by general manager Bob Quinn. So far in his Detroit career, Kennard has been a sack man for the team, putting up plenty in 2018 in his first season with the team. Kennard had never scored a touchdown in Detroit, so it was a nice feather in his cap in order to do so for the Lions, especially against New York.
Kennard is an aggressive player, so it was nice to see his instinct to score pay off. It was his first touchdown in a long time which was fun to see. Defensive players don’t usually get a chance to get in the end zone, and for Kennard to do it in this manner against his former team was certainly excellent.
Kennard continues to bring the play as well as the passion to the group, and that is positive to see moving forward. Not only known for his play, Kennard is a superhero in the community as well, and this recognition is huge for him.
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