by Before 15 of the 50 AP voters, the effort to keep Sam Darnold from the Comeback Player of the year -mood not.
Last summer the Associated Press De Standaard clarified for the price, apparently to prevent it from going to a player who had a good year after having one or more not good seasons for reasons other than injury or illness. “The Spirit of the AP Comeback Player of the Year prize is to honor a player who has demonstrated resilience in the light of adversity through Overcome illness, physical injury or other circumstances That led him to miss the playing time the previous season, “explains the revised standard.
But the language of the clarification did not fully hit a player like Darnold. By taking up the expression ‘other circumstances’, voters could have reasoned that Darnold’s early by the career setbacks-fed by the jets and to be traded to the Panthers theater for his experience in 2023 as no. 2 Quarterback in San Francisco, behind starter Brock Purdy. After Darnold had signed at Minnesota before 2024, won the runway (thanks in part to a season seasonal knee injury at the first round Rookie JJ McCarthy), and the first quarterback ever won 14 games in his first season with a team, Samsigen decided it one to mention comeback of the kind that qualified for Comeback Player of the Year.
I made him third on my own mood. Fourteen did more the same. Here is the breakdown of the other Voters who separated With the intention of the clarification, by vote.
First place: Mike Jones, Adam Schein, Jonathan Jones, Tony Dungy, Ben Volin, Diane Lee, Jim Miller, Dianna Russini.
Second place: Pat Kirwan, Chris Simms.
Third place: Mike Tirico, Aditi Kinkhabwala.
Fourth place: Tom Curran.
Fifth place: Doug Farrar.
Although Rob Maaddi of the AP during the season that explained that Darnold would not be eligibleThe AP eventually confirmed that votes for Darnold would not be rejected. Eventually he received eight votes in the first place than every player except the winner of the prize. Bengals Quarterback Joe Burrow received 31.
It is of course unknown whether Darnold would have generated enough voices to win, but for the clarification. Burrow had a phenomenal statistical season for a team that did not make the play-offs, after a seasonal wrist injury in November 2023.
And it is still to be seen whether the AP will further clarify De Standaard in 2025. Simply removing the “other circumstances” trip would prevent a player like, say, Broncos Quarterback Zach Wilson to overcome another early career influenced by Jets, which made him buried in the Denver depth in 2024 -Card before he possibly won a runway in 2025 and played at a high level. Likewise, former Giants -Starter Daniel Jones, who was cut during the 2024 season before the landing on the Minnesota practitioner could in theory win a runway and revive his career in 2025.
The easy solution would be to limit the price to players who overcome injury or illness. Until that happens, “comeback” will remain in the eye of the viewer. This year, 30 percent of voters believed that the Darnold comeback was good enough to be one of the five players who received official voices for Comeback Player of the Year.
