“It’s not exactly an award that people want to be up for but, you know, I found myself in that position and so that one would mean a lot to me.” Joe Burrow’s 2024 season was full of great stats—he finished with the NFL’s third-best passer rating (108.5) and fourth-best completion percentage (70.6). However, to put on this aerial display, he had to overcome some difficult phases. But the results are delightfully fruitful!
On Thursday night at the NFL Honors in New Orleans, the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback was awarded the 2024 AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year title. With this, he became the first player to win this award twice (first in 2021) with the same team. In addition, he also tied Chad Pennington as the only two quarterbacks to win it twice.
Joe Burrow was working through a wrist injury in 2023, which also cut short his season. Surgery followed, and doubts crept in. But when he came back in 2024, he didn’t just return he took over. His arm delivered 4,918 passing yards and 43 touchdowns, the best in the league. So, you can see the comeback was undeniable.
Joe Burrow is the 2024 @AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year.@JoeyB x #NFLHonors pic.twitter.com/b6pOkCFudN
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) February 7, 2025
That’s the reason why the AP voters agreed, giving him 31 first-place votes and 370 points, making him the clear winner. In this competition, Joe Burrow was followed by J.K. Dobbins (195 points), Sam Darnold (102), Damar Hamlin (86), and Christian Gonzalez (69).
Fans say Darn it
However, some NFL fans disagreed with the voting results. This is because they wanted Sam Darnold to win the Comeback Player of the Year award. Why? Well, we all know that before signing with the Vikings for a 1-year deal, the quarterback was the backup at the 49ers. However, in Minnesota, he led his team to the wildcard round with an amazing 14-3 regular season record. That is why he was named the NFL’s Most Improved Player by the Pro Football Writers of America.
The effortless dominance he showed for most of this season compelled fans to think about him as the Comeback Player of the Year more than Joe Burrow. That’s the reason a fan said, “This 1000000000% should have been Sam Darnold and I’m not even being a hater on Burrow right now.” In addition, some other social media users also voiced their opinion against the NFL and AP, saying, “Sam Darnold is robbed from the Comeback Player of the Year award,” or “Sam Darnold is what “comeback player” represents.”
Stay tuned as we bring you more!
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