The Associated Press, after years of providing no guidance whatsoever for what “Comeback Player of the Year” means, has finally given the voters something more than “comeback.”
“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,” the AP told voters on Tuesday.
In other words, “Coming Back from Sucking” is no longer a thing. Likewise, “Coming Back from Being a Backup” apparently doesn’t qualify the player for the award. (That said, being benched would arguably count as “other circumstances that led him to miss playing time the previous season.”)
Given that the change was sparked by Geno Smith winning the award in 2022 and undoubtedly exacerbated by Damar Hamlin not winning it in 2023, the “Coming Back from Being a Backup” subcategory presumably is dead.
If that’s the case (as it seems to be), anyone who has dropped some cash on, say, Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson at 12-1 (or so) might be a little upset right now.
Of course, maybe the AP will allow Wilson to be considered, since he arguably had “other circumstances” (contractual complications) that resulted in his benching. Still, even if he’d finished the season as the starter, he would have been a non-longshot for the award, prior to the change in the standards.
Another player on whom people might have been placing bets is Steelers quarterback Justin Fields (maybe “other circumstances” will apply to him). Or how about Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold, at 30-1?
He didn’t play last year, but he wasn’t injured or ill. He was simply No. 2 behind Brock Purdy in San Francisco. So if, in Minnesota, Darnold wins the starting job and has a career year under coach Kevin O’Connell and the Vikings go to the playoffs, is Darnold eligible? Apparently not.
That’s the risk of placing bets on sports wagers that are the result of a vote. Beyond the inherently subjective nature of the process, the standard can change after you make the bet.
It will be interesting to see whether any of the sports books will offer to refund wagers placed on players who didn’t miss time in 2023 due to illness or injury, and who would simply be coming back from sucking and/or not being in the starting lineup. It also will be interesting to see if certain players are removed from the board.
The goal of this change was undoubtedly to resolve one very specific problem. Like many similar well-intentioned efforts, it could lead to various unintended consequences.