What's the deal with the NFL's Turkey Leg Award?

The Turkey Leg Award is probably the best part of football on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day football isn’t always the best football, especially when you factor in the short weeks and increased risk of injury for the teams involved. But there are aspects of it that are quite good, including the Turkey Leg Award.

The Turkey Leg Award has officially been given out since 1989, when John Madden of CBS awarded it to the primetime Thanksgiving Day game’s most valuable player. At that time, it was Reggie White of the Eagles.

Since then, various networks have done different Thanksgiving awards, including the CBS All-Iron Award and the FOX Galloping Gobbler award but really, nothing is quite as good as seeing an NFL player or players rip into a turkey leg following a strong performance and (hopefully) a win.

Sometimes it’s given to one player, sometimes to multiple players. In 1994, players from both teams took part in the turkey eating. Despite the fact that turkeys have, you know, two legs, there are always more than that present and available for eating for the players.

Like this year, when five Saints players celebrated their win over the Falcons with a bite of turkey. Drew Brees, Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram, Cameron Jordan, and Sheldon Rankins all got their own turkey leg, which was prepared by Emeril Lagasse.

Two years ago, it was Le’Veon Bell, Ben Roethlisberger, and Antonio Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers who were able to partake in the deliciousness.

The award was once even given to the entire Dallas Cowboys offensive line.

Then there was last year, when Washington offensive tackle Morgan Moses got two legs to himself — and then played drums with them:

The Turkey Leg Award is one of the few entertaining, enjoyable aspects of Thursday football. It’s one thing we can count on every Thanksgiving, right along with the Detroit Lions losing.