Chicago Bears name Sanborn, Montgomery 2022 Piccolo Award winners
CHICAGO (CBS) – The Chicago Bears handed out the 2022 Piccolo Awards, voted on by players, given to a rookie and veteran who best exemplified the courage, loyalty, teamwork dedication and sense of humor of the late Brian Piccolo.
This year's winners were linebacker Jack Sanborn and running back David Montgomery.
These are the first Piccolo Awards given out under new team President Kevin Warren. Virginia McCaskey was on hand to see one of the honorees accept his award.
Sanborn started his season as an undrafted free agent and has some impressive hardware heading into his second NFL season.
Montgomery was not in attendance as he joined the Detroit Lions in the offseason.
For Sanborn, the honor was special because of who determines the winners.
"I think it's incredibly special," he said. "The guys who you kind of go through every day with and they see the most out of everyone ... I think any award that is voted on by your teammates, by the players hold a little more weight. It's very humbling to be here and at the same time I know there's a lot of work still to be done, but it's definitely rewarding."
The Bears have given out the award to rookies since 1970 and in 1992, the team began honoring a veteran each year as well.