Quarterback Aaron Rodgers has an impressively decorated NFL career . He's been the league's MVP four times, a Super Bowl MVP, four times First-Team All-Pro, once Second-Team All-Pro, 10 times Pro Bowler, and he also made the 2010s All-Decade Team. He's obviously going to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as soon as he is eligible to do so.
And one award he hasn't won yet has become even more plausible.
Associated Press' senior NFL writer Rob Maaddi, who oversees All-Pro and NFL awards voting, clarified a couple weeks ago how the Comeback of the Year award works — or at least should work.
"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," Maaddi told Pro Football Talk .
That matters because until last year, there was a gray area around the award. And what happened in 2023 obviously affected how AP will operate moving forward. Joe Flacco won the award because he signed with the Cleveland Browns and made the playoffs after not being a starter for four seasons. And that decision took the award away from Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who had had an episode of commotio cordis and was able to overcome his heart issue to play 111 snaps in 2024.
Similarly, even though not as blatantly, Geno Smith won the award in 2022 simply because he had a really good season for the Seattle Seahawks after a decade of struggles in the NFL.
So now, there are no gray areas anymore, and Aaron Rodgers knows his competitors for the award.
Who can win it
Sure enough, it won't be easy for Aaron Rodgers, but the Achilles injury which made him miss the entire 2023 season after four offensive snaps qualify him to win it.
The competition includes quarterbacks Joe Burrow (Cincinnati Bengals), Kirk Cousins (Atlanta Falcons), and Anthony Richardson (Indianapolis Colts), who all missed significant parts of the season because of serious injuries. Players who have simply not been good and end up having a strong season aren't eligible. Burrow, by the way, has already won the award in 2021 after a knee injury finished his rookie season.
Aaron Rodgers saw a teammate win the Comeback Player of the Year Award in 2016. That season, Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson had 97 catches for 1,257 yards, and 14 touchdowns after missing the entire 2015 season with an ACL injury.
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