Breaking: Joe Flacco of the Browns is a puzzling choice for Comeback Player of the Year…
Surprisingly, Joe Flacco of the Cleveland Browns defeated defensive back Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills, quarterback Baker Mayfield of the Tampa Bay Bucs, and quarterback Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams to win the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award on Thursday night.
After Deshaun Watson’s season-ending injury, Flacco signed as a free agent with the Browns late in the season and assumed the starting quarterback position. In his five starts during the regular season, the Browns went 4-1 to lead the team in the playoffs.
Even while Flacco’s tale was undoubtedly good for him and the Browns, it is hard to see how it could be recognized with a significant trophy. especially in light of some of the other contenders this season in the league.
Hamlin would have been the obvious choice given his comeback to the field following a heart episode during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals last season. With only five appearances and two tackles this season, he did not contribute significantly to the Bills defense. The apparent counterargument to that is that he survived a near-death experience on the field and returned to play NFL football the following season.
Nobody is returning from anything beyond that. If he had prevailed, no one would have contested the outcome either.
Despite this, the prize still has a production and play quality component. Flacco did outproduce Hamlin to that level.
Did he, however, generate enough to be awarded? And from just what was it he returned? particularly in contrast to a player like Stafford, who would have made more sense.
In contrast to Flacco, Stafford truly recovered from a serious injury that was once believed to have the potential to end his career. In addition to playing every game of the season but one, he performed at a very high level the entire time, surpassing his pre-injury performance from the previous year.
Flacco only returned from his unregistered free agency status to play at a little better level than he had the previous season.
Simply put, the electorate made an odd decision. Flacco never played at a very high level and never recovered from a situation that would have endangered his career. These are the players who typically take home this honor. None of that fitted Flacco.
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