For 15 of the 50 AP voters, the effort to keep Sam Darnold off the comeback player of the year ballot didn’t take.
Last summer, the Associated Press clarified the standard for the award, ostensibly to keep 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 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,” the revised standard explains.
But the language of the clarification didn’t slam the door entirely on a player like Darnold. By including the phrase “other circumstances,” voters could have reasoned that Darnold’s early-career misadventures — fueled by being drafted by the Jets and traded to the Panthers — set the stage for his 2023 experience as the No. 2 quarterback in San Francisco, behind starter Brock Purdy. After Darnold signed with Minnesota for 2024, won the starting job (thanks in part to a preseason season-ending knee injury to first-round rookie J.J. McCarthy), and became the first quarterback ever to win 14 games in his first season with a team, some decided to call it a comeback of the kind that made him eligible for comeback player of the year.
I made him third on my own ballot. Fourteen more did the same. Here’s the breakdown of the other voters who parted ways with the intent of the clarification, by ballot placement.
First place: Mike Jones, Adam Schein, Jonathan Jones, Tony Dungy, Ben Volin, Diante 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 explained during the season that Darnold wouldn’t be eligible, the AP eventually confirmed that votes for Darnold would not be rejected. In the end, he received eight first-place votes — more than any player except the winner of the award. Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow received 31.
It’s unknown, obviously, whether Darnold would have generated enough votes to win, but for the clarification. Burrow had a phenomenal statistical season for a team that failed to make the playoffs, after suffering a season-ending wrist injury in November 2023.
And it remains to be seen whether the AP will further clarify the standard in 2025. Simply removing the “other circumstances” catch-all would prevent a player like, say, Broncos quarterback Zach Wilson from overcoming another Jets-influenced early-career slump that caused him to be buried on the Denver depth chart in 2024 before potentially winning a starting job in 2025 and playing at a high level. Likewise, former Giants starter Daniel Jones, who was cut during the 2024 season before landing on the Minnesota practice squad could, in theory, win a starting job and resurrect his career in 2025.
The easy fix would be to limit the award to players overcoming injury or illness. Until that happens, “comeback” will continue to be in the eye of the beholder. This year, 30 percent of the voters believed that Darnold’s comeback was good enough to be one of the five players receiving official votes for comeback player of the year.
We’re big on transparency in these parts, because the lack of it causes people to wonder what’s really going on behind the curtain.
Last year, I posted my full AP awards ballot, which went five deep at MVP and three for all other awards. My 2024 ballot, which now has five names for each award, appears below.
MVP
1. Lamar Jackson, Ravens.
2. Josh Allen, Bills (WINNER).
3. Saquon Barkley, Eagles.
4. Jared Goff, Lions.
5. Joe Burrow, Bengals.
COACH OF THE YEAR
1. Dan Campbell, Lions.
2. Kevin O’Connell, Vikings (WINNER).
3. Sean Payton, Broncos.
4. Andy Reid, Chiefs.
5. Dan Quinn, Commanders.
ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR
1. Ben Johnson, Lions (WINNER).
2. Brian Flores, Vikings.
3. Todd Monken, Ravens.
4. Joe Brady, Bills.
5. Aaron Glenn, Lions.
COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR
1. Joe Burrow, Bengals (WINNER).
2. Damar Hamlin, Bills.
3. Sam Darnold, Vikings.
4. J.K. Dobbins, Chargers.
5. Christian Gonzalez, Patriots.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
1. Pat Surtain II, Broncos (WINNER).
2. T.J. Watt, Steelers.
3. Myles Garrett, Browns.
4. Trey Hendrickson, Bengals.
5. Kerby Joseph, Lions.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
1. Saquon Barkley, Eagles (WINNER).
2. Ja’Marr Chase, Bengals.
3. Lamar Jackson, Bengals.
4. Joe Burrow, Bengals.
5. Derrick Henry, Ravens.
DEFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1. Jared Verse, Rams (WINNER).
2. Braden Fiske, Rams.
3. Quinyon Mitchell, Eagles.
4. Cooper DeJean, Eagles.
5. Edgerrin Cooper, Packers.
OFFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1. Jayden Daniels, Commanders (WINNER).
2. Brock Bowers, Raiders.
3. Bo Nix, Broncos.
4. Brian Thomas Jr., Jaguars.
5. Malik Nabers, Giants.
Each of the 50 AP voters should do the same. If you’re going to accept the opportunity to have a voice in these awards, you have an obligation to let the world know how you used it.
And that includes Raiders minority owner/FOX broadcaster/AP voter Tom Brady — especially since it would be nice to know who cast the first-place ballot for Brock Bowers that kept Daniels from winning the offensive rookie of the year award unanimously.
Moving forward, the AP should tell all voters that, after the awards are distributed, all ballots will be released. Now that legal wagering attracts action for each of these awards, everyone should be able to see how everyone voted, each and every year.
And anyone who has a problem with their ballot being disclosed should decline to participate in the AP voting.
UPDATE 10:33 p.m. ET: Good news. The AP is apparently disclosing all of the votes. If they told us they were going to do that this year, I missed it. And Brady did indeed make Daniels his first-place offensive rookie of the year.
The same 50 people who voted for the MVP award also voted for the All-Pro team. The votes were due only two days apart, in the immediate aftermath of Week 18.
And, somehow, the tabulation of the ballots resulted in Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson being named the first-team All-Pro quarterback — and Bill quarterback Josh Allen being named the MVP.
It makes no sense. I voted for Jackson as both the first-team All-Pro and MVP. In all, 30 of the voters named Jackson the first-team All-Pro; 18 picked Allen. But only 23 of the voters made Jackson the first-place choice MVP. Presumably, seven voters who deemed Lamar the first-team All-Pro quarterback gave Allen their first-place vote for MVP.
No one else got a first-place vote. There were 27 for Allen, 23 for Jackson. And that was enough to give Allen the honor by a total of 21 points.
It all came down to the first place vs. second place votes. Allen got 27 and 22 (plus a third-place vote) and Jackson got 23 and 26 (plus a fourth-place vote).
The term “valuable” in MVP has no consensus definition. Many view it simply as the best player in the league. So how can at least seven voters regard one as the best quarterback and the other as the best player?
To make things even stranger, two voters made Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow the first-team All-Pro quarterback, but no one gave him a first-place MVP vote.
All voters should disclose their ballots, if only to help folks understand who decided to make that All-Pro/MVP distinction — and to confirm (frankly) that the count was accurately performed.
I voted for Jackson first, then Allen, Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, Lions quarterback Jared Goff, and Burrow.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow turned in a 2024 season good enough to make him a finalist for a pair of awards at Thursday night’s NFL Honors and he has taken home one of them.
Voters selected Burrow as this year’s comeback player of the year. Burrow suffered a season-ending right wrist injury last November and required surgery that led to a lengthy rehab leading into the 2024 season. He made it back for the start of the season and led the league with 4,918 yards, 43 touchdown passes, and 460 completions while posting a completion percentage over 70 percent.
Burrow received 370 votes, with 31 of the 50 first-place votes. He was followed by Chargers running back J.K. Dobbins (195 points, 3 first-place votes), Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold (102, 8), Bills safety Damar Hamlin (86, 3) and Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez (69, 2).
It is the second time that Burrow has won the comeback player of the year award. He also won it after returning from a torn ACL in 2021.
Burrow is also a finalist for the most valuable player award, but he is not expected to win that one after the Bengals fell short of the postseason.
The Giants allowed Saquon Barkley to walk away in free agency. Their loss was the Eagles’ gain.
Barkley became an MVP candidate in his first year with the Eagles. He isn’t likely to win that quarterback, which has become a quarterback award, but Barkley did win offensive player of the year.
He had 345 carries for 2,005 yards and 13 touchdowns and added 33 catches for 278 yards and two touchdowns for the Eagles. Barkley became the ninth player in NFL history to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season, and his 2,005 yards is eighth-most in league history.
Barkley is the only player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 or more yards and 13 or more touchdowns while averaging more than 5.8 yards (5.81) per carry.
He posted a career high in scrimmage yards (302) and a franchise record in rushing yards (255) in a 37-20 victory over the Rams in Week 12. He had 11 games with 100 or more rushing yards, including five of 150 or more.
Barkley won the award with 406 points and 35 of the 50 first-place votes. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was second (183 points, 12 first-place votes), Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase (171, 0) third, Ravens running back Derrick Henry fourth (92, 1) and Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow fifth (78, 1). Bills quarterback Josh Allen had the other first-place vote and finished sixth.
Jackson is the favorite for MVP.
