> Folorunso Fatukasi — Dennis Byrd/Most Inspirational Player
The young man they call Foley gets his third team award in three years after nabbing the Kyle Clifton honor in 2019 and '20. Fatukasi earns the Byrd for his continuing inspirational contributions, from firing up the troops during pregame warmups to juicing his teammates and the fans with his sometimes high impactful hits behind the line of scrimmage.
Fatukasi makes no bones about taking after another inspirational Jets D-lineman in Steve McLendon, who won the Byrd award three years in a row, from 2017-19, before being traded to Tampa Bay last year. "Big Steve has been a tremendous friend, mentor, a brother to a lot of people," Foley said. "His spirit is still high. I was fortunate, we were fortunate as players, as friends, to have him around. As he would tell me, the show is still going and you have to keep going."
RB Frank Gore was honored last year, but Fatukasi's win marks the ninth time in 10 years that a defensive player has won the award, named for Byrd, the Jets DL who suffered a paralyzing on-field injury in 1992, then worked inspirationally to "Rise Up and Walk," the title of his autobiography, less than a year later. <