NFL to honor league's best offensive lineman with Protector of the Year award

Amid a flurry of announcements and rules decisions from the NFL owners meetings in Minneapolis comes a new award.

NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent announced on Wednesday that the NFL will issue the Protector of the Year award at the end of each season to honor the NFL's best offensive lineman.

Vincent credited Buffalo Bills Pro Bowl guard Dion Dawkins and retired Los Angeles Rams All-Pro tackle Andrew Whitworth for helping facilitate the award. A panel of retired offensive lineman including Whitworth will determine the winner.

"I'm going to give credit to Dion Dawkins from Buffalo," Vincent said, per NFL Network. "He was truly instrumental, him and Andrew Whitworth, of just making sure that we recognize the big fellas.

"LeCharles Bentley, Jason Kelce, Shaun O'Hara, Orlando Pace, Will Shields and Andrew Whitworth will be the panel. ... They've come up with a criteria on skills, metrics, impact, leadership, durability and strength of the opponent. We'll be tracking that quarterly with this group."

Dawkins and Whitworth both praised the decision on social media, with Whitworth declaring that "it means everything to the big guys of up front."

"It’s time the men who lead, protect, and never ask for credit are recognized as the backbone of this game!" Whitworth wrote.

The award will be issued alongside other individual awards including MVP, Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year and Rookies of the Year on both sides of the ball. It will be the only position-specific award handed out by the NFL for an off-ball position that doesn't garner consideration for any of the other awards.