Tag: Alan Page

Commanders LT Charles Leno Jr. named finalist for prestigious Alan Page Community Award

Charles Leno named a finalist for prestigious community award.

Charles Leno Jr. finished his 10th NFL season earlier this month and his third season with the Washington Commanders. In 10 NFL seasons, Leno has played 149 games with 141 starts. He’s also made the Pro Bowl, too.

Not bad for a former seventh-round pick.

But for as good as Leno has been on the field throughout his NFL career, he’s even more impressive off the field. In 2022, Leno was named the Commanders’ Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award nominee for his outstanding work in the community.

Leno and his wife Jennifer have participated in numerous off-field activities in the DMV community, and in 2020, created “Leno Claus,” which gives back to families in need during the first 20 days of December.

Leno is also a four-time Community MVP and two-time NFLPA Community MVP.

On Wednesday, the NFLPA announced the five finalists for the 2024 NFLPA Alan Page Community Award. The award is named after Pro Football Hall of Famer Alan Page, who enjoyed a 15-year NFL career that saw him win numerous awards, including NFL MVP, a two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team and much, much more.

But Page saved his most impressive work for after his playing career when he became a Minnesota Supreme Court judge. Page received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018.

From the NFLPA:

The Alan Page Community (APC) Award is the highest honor that the NFLPA can bestow upon a player. The award annually recognizes one union member who goes above and beyond to perform community service in his team city and/or hometown. As an award for the players and by the players, the winner will be determined next week through a league-wide digital vote by their NFL peers.

Leno was one of five finalists, joining Damar Hamlin (Buffalo), Calais Campbell (Atlanta), Harrison Phillips (Minnesota) and Frank Ragnow (Detroit) as the finalists.

All five finalists receive a $10,000 donation from the NFLPA toward their foundation or charity of choice.

Leno also secured the distinction of Week 17 NFLPA Community MVP and APC Award finalist for a second consecutive season after hosting his latest Leno Claus initiative. For 25 days during the month of December, Leno’s Beyond The Entertainer Foundation positively impacted more than 20 different non-profits and causes, including donating 720 winter blankets for Chicagoans in need; covering expenses for a family facing terminal illness to go on a retreat; purchasing 10 computers to help new mothers pursue their education; adopting 22 families in need while clearing their holiday wish lists, helping out with rent, assisting with daycare costs, buying groceries, and much more. Leno and his wife, Jennifer, began this season’s campaign by announcing the launch of Paitynn’s Friends, which honors the daughter that they unexpectedly lost to miscarriage in October and will support those who have lost a sibling by providing care packages.

The winner will be announced at the NFLPA’s annual press conference in Las Vegas on Feb. 7. The winner receives an additional $100K donation to the charity of his choice.

Good luck to Charles Leno Jr.

88 days until Vikings season opener: Every player to wear No. 88

No. 88 has not been worn in a game for the Minnesota Vikings since 1987, but who has worn the number for the Vikings?

It’s the final countdown…

Well, sort of.

The Minnesota Vikings will kick off their 2023 regular season in 88 days at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 10.

From now until then, we will take a trip down memory lane and count each day by revisiting the players that have worn that specific jersey number.

The No. 88 has remained relatively dormant for the Minnesota Vikings. No one on the roster currently wears the number, and it hasn’t been worn in a game since 1987. The number will likely be mostly recognized for Alan Page, who wore it for 12 seasons.

With 88 days until kickoff, here’s a look at every player to wear No. 88 with the Vikings (via Pro Football Reference):

The Vikings have drafted 8 Hall of Fame players

Throughtout the storied history of the Minnesota Vikings, they have drafted eight players currently in the Hall of Fame.

The Minnesota Vikings have seen a lot of success in the NFL draft. They have drafted multiple Hall of Fame players and a ton of Pro Bowlers.

Their success, like any team, has seen their fair share of ups and downs in the draft Their biggest successes came in the 1960’s with multiple Hall of Fame players taken in the first round.

Overall, the Vikings have drafted eight Hall of Fame players to date with more potentially joining them in the coming years.

Former 1st round QB thinks Justin Jefferson should be considered for MVP

Former 1st round quarterback thinks Justin Jefferson should be considered for NFL MVP

There is some growing frustration surrounding the MVP award this year as the NFL regular season starts to wind down. Every year, a panel of 50 sports writers votes on who they believe is the Most Valuable Player in the NFL’s regular season year.

Historically, this award has gone to quarterbacks in the NFL. There have been exceptions throughout its history. For example, most fans will probably remember Vikings’ running back Adrian Peterson winning it back in 2012 as well as defensive tackle Alan Page winning it in 1971. He was the only defensive tackle to win the award in league history.

When quarterbacks don’t win the award, it typically means another player really dominated that season. That sentiment brings us to the 2022 season.

Justin Jefferson has been on fire all season, and we’ve seen him break multiple records in Vikings history this season, and he’s on his way to potentially breaking two more NFL records this season.

  • Calvin Johnson’s NFL Record for most receiving yards in a single season-1,964 yards
  • Michael Thomas’ NFL Record for most receptions in a single season-149 receptions

As it stands today, Jefferson has 123 receptions for 1,756 yards with two games to go, but he hasn’t been in the conversation for MVP.

Former 1st round quarterback Robert Griffin III had some choice words about that this morning on Twitter.

Griffin III is absolutely right with his take. While Griffin III and myself believe that Jefferson should be considered for the MVP award, we have a recent example of why that probably won’t happen. Last season, Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp was just as dominant as Jefferson has been this season, including being close to breaking both Thomas’ and Johnson’s single-season records. Even with the season he had, he fell short and only received one of the 50 votes for NFL MVP in 2021.

Maybe Jefferson can break the mold this season. If he is able to break one or both of those records, it makes his argument more compelling.

Even if he doesn’t win the MVP, he’ll likely secure the Offensive Player of the Year award. Regardless of what happens, Vikings fans and Jefferson should be ecstatic about his performances this season and the future of Jefferson in purple.

The Rich Eisen Show reveals G.O.A.T. player for every NFC North team

Did they get the Vikings’ pick right?

It’s no easy undertaking in choosing the all-time great for every NFC North team, unless it’s pertaining to the Detroit Lions.

Sure, “Megatron” Calvin Johnson was an absolute juggernaut on the football field, but there’s an offensive presence on the Lions’ Mount Rushmore that surpasses even the legacy of one of the greatest receivers in NFL history.

However, things start to get really fun when talking about the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers. There are multiple players capable of sitting on the mountaintop and being deemed the G.O.A.T. of those teams.

The Rich Eisen Show’s TJ Jefferson broke things down for the Vikings, Packers, Lions and Chicago Bears in a segment where he named the greatest player of all time for each of those respective franchises.

Here are the names that made the NFC North’s list.

Eagles safety Rodney McLeod wins the NFLPA’s Alan Page Community Award

#Philadelphia #Eagles’ Rodney #McLeod wins #NFLPA’s #AlanPage Community Award

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbx4gfbwm323hbt player_id=none image=https://theeagleswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

The NFLPA named Philadelphia Eagles safety Rodney McLeod as the winner for the 2022 Alan Page Community Award on February 9, 2022.

The award recognizes one specific player each season for their contributions and leadership to the city’s community along with other communities across the country.

McLeod’s foundation, “Change Our Future,”  will receive the $100,000 from the NFLPA, the Eagles announced. 

McLeod hosted his foundation’s first Inaugural art & Sole Sneaker Ball, where around 150 toys and 250 shoes were given to families in need for Christmas.  An estimated $205,000 was also reported to have been raised toward STEM and Black history in the curriculum in local schools, per Philadelphia Eagles.com.

The Eagles’ safety is well known for his activism against the surging gun violence in Philadelphia.    McLeod has worked with fellow players on the team for a new campaign started in 2022 called the Eagles Social Justice Leadership Council — where $316,000 was awarded to various social justice nonprofit organizations in the city.

 “Ever since I arrived in Philadelphia as a free agent in 2016, this has been my home,” McLeod said. It hurts to see so much heartache and suffering in our communities as a result of these senseless acts of violence. We are losing family members, friends, mentors, role models, and future leaders because of the gun violence in our streets. 

No one should ever have to live in fear of going to school, hanging out at the playground, or just walking out the front door. Yet, for so many in our communities, they do.”

McLeod is the fifth Eagles player to win the award, as he joins Malcolm Jenkins, Chris Long, Brian Dawkins, and Troy Vincent.

[listicle id=663729]

[listicle id=663586]

[listicle id=662082]

[lawrence-related id=663744,663732,663726,663181]

Twitter really won’t acknowledge this football legend

Laughably bad miss by Twitter.

In my life Twitter is a necessary evil.  It’s a place where news is broken, rumors are speculated on, and content is created in boatloads by the minute.

For some, its significant to get a blue check mark by their handle because that means they’re verified as the real person.  It brings some form of authenticy to know you’re following the actual President of the United States or head football coach at your favorite university.

Twitter however won’t verify one of the greatest football players the game has ever seen because he “lacks notability”.

That player is Alan Page who was an All-American on Notre Dame’s 1966 national championship team before playing 15 years in the NFL where he was a six-time All-Pro with the Minnesota Vikings.

Page also won the NFL MVP in 1971, the NFL Championship in 1969, played in four Super Bowls, and registered 148.5 sacks in his Hall of Fame career.

As impressive as Page’s football career was his life after football has been arguably even more impressive.

From our colleagues at TouchdownWire:

Somehow, Page’s post-football life has been even more extraordinary. Page entered law school at the University of Minnesota during his NFL career and acquired a law degree in 1978, entering private practice in 1979. Page joined the Minnesota Attorney General’s office in 1985, and became an associate justice in the Minnesota Supreme Court, a position he held until 2015, when he reached the court’s mandatory retirement age of 70. Page has run marathons, authored two children’s books with his daughter Kamie (Alan and His Perfectly Pointy Impossibly Perpendicular Pinky in 2013, and The Invisible You in 2014), and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018.

Meanwhile, seemingly every Tom, Dick, and Harry to ever write a newspaper article, speak on the radio, or be an influencer (whatever the hell that means) gets the blue checkmark.

Well done, Twitter, well done.

Related:

Notre Dame well represented on ESPN’s top-100 players list for 2021

Four Notre Dame players named preseason All-Americans

 

Former Vikings DT Alan Page is somehow denied verification on Twitter

Vikings fans are very familiar with what Alan Page has achieved on and off the field over the years. Somehow, that wasn’t enough for a blue checkmark on Twitter.

Former Vikings defensive tackle Alan Page was inducted into the Hall of Fame and was a key part of the “Purple People Eaters,” a prolific Minnesota defensive line that helped lead the team to four Super Bowl appearances.

But enough about his NFL career. Page attended the University of Minnesota Law School while playing for the Vikings. After his retirement from the league, he went on to become an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Somehow, someway that did not earn him a blue checkmark on Twitter. Page recently took to Twitter to voice his frustration with the lack of verification.

Page added the phrase “#notnotable” to his tweet. Usually that kind of remark would be considered a tad ridiculous coming from someone who’s had the life Page has had. But Twitter found a way to make it so, according to their verification system.

Maybe it’s a mistake, or maybe not. Either way, Page is at least well known in Vikings territory, as one of the more important players in the franchise’s history. I guess he’ll have to settle for all his accolades and achievements while he waits on that blue checkmark.

Vikings land three players in top sack leaders list from 1960 through 1981

The Minnesota Vikings were well represented on the list of top sack leaders from 1960 through 1981.

It’s been well known that the Vikings have deployed some of the best pass rushers in NFL history.

It was hard for younger generations to grasp just how good the defensive linemen of old were, especially players who were getting to the quarterback before 1982. That year was when sacks started being officially recorded.

Pro Football Reference is trying to change that, putting sack numbers from 1960 through 1981 on their website.

That helped contextualize how good some of the old defensive lines used to be, such as the “Purple People Eaters,” the legendary defensive line unit on the Vikings.

Here are updated sack numbers for a few former Vikings players, followed by their rank from 1960 through 1981: