By Will Hill
FOX Sports NFL Betting Analyst
Every February, the NFL holds its awards ceremony the week of the Super Bowl, handing out the MVP of the league, the Rookie of the Year on offense and defense, and crowning a Coach of the Year. There’s also an Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year.
Those awards can be debated. Sure, reasonable (and unreasonable) minds can differ on who is worthy of winning in each category.
But there’s one award that is above all when it comes to controversy and disagreeing opinions, and that’s the Comeback Player of the Year.
Last year, Bills safety Damar Hamlin was as high as -1000 odds (you had to risk $10 to win $1) at certain books during the middle of the season. Hamlin famously returned to the field after suffering cardiac arrest on Monday Night Football the previous season, an accomplishment that many assumed would clinch the award.
However, around Thanksgiving, the Browns signed veteran quarterback Joe Flacco, a transaction most fans probably weren’t even aware of when occurred. After all, it was only a deal for Flacco to join the practice squad.
But a couple of weeks later, Flacco saw the field for the first time on Dec. 3 against the Rams in a 37-19 loss in L.A. The following week, Flacco notched his first win, and eventually Flacco, who was a 250-1 moonshot to win this award, was named Comeback Player of the Year after helping the Browns reach the playoffs.
The prior year, the two main candidates for this award were Saquon Barkley and Geno Smith. Barkley was coming off of a season-ending injury and led the Giants to the playoffs with an outstanding season. Smith wasn’t really coming back from anything other than a handful of mediocre seasons.
Smith won the award anyway.
As we look ahead to this year, the lesson is that Comeback Player of the Year is vague. There are no defined criteria, so it’s hard to handicap, but it’s fun to bet because the lack of guidelines makes for a wide-open race.
Aaron…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/2024-25-nfl-odds-can-sam-darnold-complete-redemption-story
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Publish date : 2024-06-19 13:09:31
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