Current Events > Should Damar Hamlin have been NFL Comeback Player of the Year?

(+) Yeah! (+)

He earned the most first place votes, but lost overall to Joe Flacco.

On one hand, he came back from dropping dead on field. On the other hand, he only played special teams and recorded two tackles all season.

Joe Flacco essentially came out of retirement and didn't play half the season, but he threw for like a billion yards every game he played and led the Cleveland Browns to the playoffs. And promptly returned to looking like the past-his-prime fossil he had been for years.

Should on-field performance or a feel-good story matter more?

There's something wrong with a system where the most first place votes doesn't equate to winning the award.

After the Bills fake punt are we sure Damar came back?

Damar is a good story but not a good nfl player

Nah. Flacco was the right pick.

I don't like how inconsistent CPOY is every season.

Sometimes it's given to a guy that simply just came back from a really bad injury and just existed on an NFL team (Alex Smith in 2020). For that reason, Hamlin should've won it.

Sometimes it's given to a good player that got hurt the season before, came back, and didn't miss a beat (Joe Burrow in 2021). For that reason, Matthew Stafford should've won it.

Sometimes it's given to a guy that stunk the year before, changed teams, and then played well (Geno Smith in 2022). For that reason, Baker Mayfield should've won it.

But it's rare that the CPOY is a guy that was literally out of the league, gets signed, and goes on the month and a half run that Flacco went on. Only one I can really think of is Tommy Maddox in 2002, who was out of the league from 1995 to 2001, was the backup in 2001, but went on to lead the Steelers to the playoffs in 2002.

It's the one award that, when it's announced, I kinda just shrug and say "Ok" becasue there's never any rhyme or reason for who wins it.

bigblu89 posted...

I don't like how inconsistent CPOY is every season.

Sometimes it's given to a guy that simply just came back from a really bad injury and just existed on an NFL team (Alex Smith in 2020). For that reason, Hamlin should've won it.

Sometimes it's given to a good player that got hurt the season before, came back, and didn't miss a beat (Joe Burrow in 2021). For that reason, Matthew Stafford should've won it.

Sometimes it's given to a guy that stunk the year before, changed teams, and then played well (Geno Smith in 2022). For that reason, Baker Mayfield should've won it.

But it's rare that the CPOY is a guy that was literally out of the league, gets signed, and goes on the month and a half run that Flacco went on. Only one I can really think of is Tommy Maddox in 2002, who was out of the league from 1995 to 2001, was the backup in 2001, but went on to lead the Steelers to the playoffs in 2002.

It's the one award that, when it's announced, I kinda just shrug and say "Ok" becasue there's never any rhyme or reason for who wins it.

I think all of those reasons are seen as valid reasons to be CPOY and it's the degree that makes any given player win in a year.

Like let's look at Hamlin and Smith since those are the two most directly comparable. Damar had a freak medical incident, he sorta died for a bit, which is super bad, but recovered. But as far as I know, despite the severity of the issue, his body was largely still in decent shape. So the actual action of making it back, while taken with extreme caution, wasn't a crazy difficult task.

Smith had a horrendous leg injury. It wasn't as initially serious as Hamlin since he didn't nearly die, but there was a serious chance he wasn't going to keep his leg. His journey to even standing on the sidelines was a considerably more difficult one than Hamlin's, despite Hamlin having the bigger initial scare.

CPOY is the biggest joke award of all the joke awards that given out for the regular season.