AP makes it clear they weren't happy with Joe Flacco beating Damar Hamlin for Comeback Player Award

Four months after the NFL Honors, the Associated Press (AP) released a statement, clarifying what the criteria should be when voters are decking the NFL Comeback Player of the Year (CPOY). It would be very easy for them to bury this story at the beginning of the season when the NFL world is abuzz, but here we are in the middle of June hearing about it.

That just sounds a lot like someone in charge is still pretty salty that they weren’t able to cash their  ‘Comeback Player of the Year: Damar Hamlin’ ticket, because why else would they do it now?

The Comeback Player of the Year award is going to start going to a player who is actually coming back from something.

The Cleveland Browns’ quarterback Joe Flacco winning the 2023 CPOY over the Buffalo Bills' Damar Hamlin sparked one of the funnier days on the internet. The general sentiment regarding the results from the award was that it’s harder to take the Cleveland Browns to the playoffs than it is to come back from literally dying on a football field. It was the second year in a row there was controversy over the spirit of the award

The 2022 CPOY was quarterback Geno Smith, who won over running back Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey was coming back from a 2021 season where his leg simultaneously imploded and exploded, or something gnarly like that. Whereas Geno was coming back from a 2021 season where he just kind of stunk for a few games.

The lack of criteria for the award spun things towards both Smith and Flacco, rather than the two players who were either grievously wounded or an actual dead body. Clearly, it should go towards someone who is coming back from some kind of physical adversity or something out of their control.

It’s become punchline fodder, rather the the NFL’s, “We’re not bad guys. See? We honor the players who have had their quality of life thoroughly lowered because of our game,’ award.

So now, the AP added criteria. They have decided to actually tell voters what the award is for, rather than just assume that the voters knew.

Going outright and saying the award should go to 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,” makes it pretty clear about the vibes of the award.

Good for them for actually doing something about this. The world would plunge into chaos if Russell Wilson or Sam Darnold won the 2024 CPOY over Anthony Richardson or Joe Burrow.