GREEN BAY – Packers receiver Davante Adams was unanimously selected as the 2021 Tom Mulhern Stand-Up Guy Award recipient by the Green Bay chapter of the Professional Football Writers of America.
Adams is the first Packers player to be a unanimous choice and the first three-time recipient of the award. He's also the first to be honored in back-to-back seasons for having best helped reporters covering the team to do their jobs effectively.
Past winners include kicker Mason Crosby, left tackle David Bakhtiari, defensive tackle Kenny Clark and quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Adams, who first won the award in 2017, spoke with reporters every Wednesday during the season and following most games. When asked why he goes above and beyond when answering questions, Adams says it goes back to his upbringing.
"I don't like going through the motions with anything that I do," Adams said. "If you watch the clock at school, it's going to be a long day. So, I try to get the most out of everything that I do.
"That was something I was taught by my parents, especially my dad. That's something he was on me about was, 'Don't just go through the motions. If you have to clean something up, just commit to it, whatever you're doing. If you're at football practice, get the most out of everything you do.'"
Adams said the other part is the relationship he's developed with the Green Bay media corps since he was drafted in the second round out of Fresno State in 2014. There were some tough times early on, especially a challenging 2015 campaign, but Adams always respected how the local media conducted itself.
The five-time Pro Bowl receiver said he plans to display the award next to his previous two Stand-Up Guy trophies at his home back in California.
"This group here, guys who are around day-to-day, y'all have made me feel good about coming in here and doing this with you and asking good questions," Adams said.
"Even when you have to ask some of the tougher questions that you gotta ask, I feel like you all treat me like a human being. It feels good to feel that and it makes it a lot more fun to come in here and chat with you all and give you the real me. I just try to be me. I like to think that's what it is. I come in here and really just have a conversation with y'all."
The Stand-Up Guy Award is named after the late Tom Mulhern, a former Packers and Wisconsin Badgers beat writer for the Wisconsin State Journal and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel who passed away at age 56 in October 2014.
Tom Mulhern Stand-Up Guy recipients
- 2014: Jordy Nelson, Tramon Williams
- 2015: No award given
- 2016: Micah Hyde, T.J. Lang
- 2017: Davante Adams, David Bakhtiari
- 2018: Kenny Clark
- 2019: Bryan Bulaga, Mason Crosby, Tramon Williams
- 2020: Davante Adams, Aaron Rodgers
- 2021: Davante Adams
