Greg Olsen beat Torrey Smith for $25,000 Walter Payton vote donation, then donated money to Smith’s charity

Over the past two months, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Torrey Smith has been tweeting the hashtag #TSmithWPMOYChallenge. As part of the Walter Payton Man of the Year competition, the person with the most tweets of their hashtag would win a $25,000 donation to their charity of choice.

A late surge in balloting resulted in Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen claiming the prize. There will still be competition for the overall prize, but Olsen got the $25,000 for his Receptions 4 Research charity. However, the tight end did not stop there. According to Torrey Smith, Olsen also made a donation to Smith’s “Torrey Smith Family Fund” charity (h/t Panthers Wire).

Smith and Olsen have had a great competition over the past couple months, and they capped it off with further donations of their own to their own programs.

The Walter Payton Man of the Year will be announced on February 4 at the NFL Honors program. The winner will receive $1 million donated in his name, with $500,000 going to a charity of his choice and $500,000 supporting the expansion of Character Playbook across all NFL markets. The two finalists will each receive a $125,000 donation to the charity of their choice and a $125,000 donation in their names to expand Character Playbook, and the additional 29 team winners will receive a $50,000 donation to their charity of choice and an additional $50,000 donation in their name to implement Character Playbook. Last year, Anquan Boldin won the award.