Joe Flacco came off the couch to start six games for the Browns, one of four quarterbacks to start for the team after Deshaun Watson was lost for the season with a shoulder injury.
Earlier this week, Flacco was named a finalist for the league’s comeback player of the year award. Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin, Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa are the other finalists.
Voting took place the day after the regular season ended and will be announced at the NFL Honors show during Super Bowl week.
Flacco, though, doesn’t understand why he’s a finalist.
“I don’t necessarily know what I’m coming back from,” he told Zach Gelb of CBS Sports. “I would say most of the guys on that list I’m not sure what we’re coming back from, so that’s probably my initial reaction.”
The problem is the comeback player of the year award is absent a definition. It’s up to each of the 50 selectors to decide what a player is coming back from.
“I’m just coming back from being old and from not being on a team for a couple months,” Flacco said.
While Hamlin should be a no-brainer, coming back from the dead last January when he went into cardiac arrest on the field during a game, Flacco is a close betting favorite to Hamlin for some reason.
Flacco said he would vote for Hamlin.
“For sure,” Flacco told Gelb. “I don’t know how many snaps he played. I just think mentally, to get yourself back to the point where you feel comfortable doing that kind of thing . . . is pretty cool.”
That’s what could prevent Hamlin from winning the award: He played 17 defensive snaps and 94 on special teams in only five games. So, some voters didn’t see enough from him to list him No. 1.
Hamlin, though, should be the definition of the award.