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The Associated Press opted to give the Comeback Player of the Year award an overhaul after Joe Flacco’s fairly awkward win over Damar Hamlin last season. As a result, players who simply bounce back from a rough patch shouldn’t be in the running, but it sounds like Sam Darnold could end up securing the honor he shouldn’t be eligible for in the first place.
It seemed like a forgone conclusion Damar Hamlin was going to be named the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year last season due to his ability to suit up for the Bills after literally dying on the football field.
However, things took an interesting turn when Joe Flacco led the Browns to the playoffs after replacing Deshaun Watson in the wake of a season-ending injury, and the veteran QB ultimately won the award that was then reserved for a player who “overcomes adversity to return to remarkable performance, in the form of not being in the NFL the previous year, a severe injury, or simply poor performance.”
That led to the Associated Press (which oversees the voting for Comeback Player of the Year) opting to remove the “simply poor performance” clause prior to the start of the 2024 season to emphasize injury-related adversity, as the criteria now states it should be used to honor a player for “overcoming illness, physical injury or other circumstances that led him to miss playing time the previous season.”
That was designed to usher in a new era where the achievement is no longer the NFL’s equivalent of the NBA’s Most Improved Player award, which presumably meant Sam Darnold wouldn’t be in the running this year after resurrecting his career during the stellar campaign the 27-year-old has had during his first season with the Vikings.
Darnold spent the 2023 campaign serving as Brock Purdy’s backup on the 49ers and didn’t appear on the injury report a single time during his one-year stint in San Francisco.
As a result, it would appear he’s firmly ineligible to win Comeback Player of the Year this season based on the new criteria, but according to Pro Football Talk, the AP confirmed it won’t be rejecting any ballots Darnold is listed on while all but begging the 50 voters responsible for determining the winner not to throw their support behind him with a statement that reads:
“We have given voters the criteria and will follow up regularly to make sure the guidelines are clear. We expect voters will follow the criteria, and the award recipient will meet the criteria.”
As things currently stand, Joe Burrow is a slim favorite to win Comeback Player of the Year over Darnold at the sportsbooks offering action on the award, and he is firmly eligible after missing the last seven games of the previous season due to a torn ligament.
We’ll find out who ends up winning when it’s presented at the NFL Honors ceremony on February 6th.