As of last week, and without even being on the Colts’ 53-man roster, quarterback Philip Rivers had 15-1 odds to win the NFL’s comeback player of the year award. After his first 2025 game, Rivers has made another move.
He’s currently 5-1, behind only 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, who’s the clear favorite at -210.
The Rivers “comeback” (which literally is a comeback) doesn’t fit within the clarification the Associated Press published to voters last year: “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.”
Rivers missed playing time in 2024 (and 2023, 2022, and 2021 by choice). Still, the AP won’t be rejecting ballots that contain Rivers’s name.
With five names on the list for each of the 50 voters, Rivers will surely get votes. Unless the Colts manage to turn their current 1-5 slide into a playoff berth, Rivers likely won’t get enough votes to secure the trophy.
The other realistic candidates are Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, both of whom have 7-1 odds.
