The Associated Press is adjusting the criteria for the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award and will be emphasizing players who overcome injury or illness, and not just a player who had a good year compared to it’s previous years.
“The spirit of the AP Comeback Player of the Year Award is to honor a player who has demonstrated resilience in the face of adversity by overcoming illness, physical injury or other circumstances that led him to miss playing time the previous season,” voters for the award will be told as their guidance for voting on the award, according to AP senior NFL writer Rob Maaddi, who oversees All-Pro and NFL awards voting.
The change comes after Geno Smith and Joe Flacco won the award in back to back years. Both quarterbacks ha good years after having been mostly a backup quarterback the year before. Neither guy overcame injury or illness.
With the new criteria, it seems like guys like Aaron Rodgers, Joe Burrow, Kirk Cousins, Anthony Richardson and Nick Chubb are more likely to win the war compared to a guy like Russell Wilson, who was benched in Denver last year and is now slated to start for the Steelers.
