Writer, insider address if Vikings' Sam Darnold can win Comeback Player of the Year Award

For an article published on Wednesday, national NFL writer Mike Jones of The Athletic directly said that Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold "won’t win (Associated Press) Comeback Player of the Year because of rule changes that stipulate a candidate must have overcome injury, illness or other circumstances that caused him to miss playing time the previous season." 

While those changes were made public after signal-caller Joe Flacco won the award over Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin last winter, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio suggested on Wednesday afternoon that the Associated Press' use of the phrase "other circumstances" does create "enough wiggle room" for writers to vote for Darnold.

"When we asked the AP four specific questions in October — (1) will votes for Sam Darnold be rejected?; (2) will any votes that don’t mesh with the new guidelines be rejected?; (3) who will decide the players that are and aren’t within the new guidelines?; and (4) when will those decisions be made? — we received this answer: 'We have given voters the criteria and will follow up regularly to make sure the guidelines are clear. We expect voters will follow the criteria, and the award recipient will meet the criteria,'" Florio added.

As of Wednesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals as the betting favorite at -200 odds to win Comeback Player of the Year. Darnold was second on the list at +175 odds. 

Burrow's 2023 season ended prematurely because of a wrist injury. The Pro Football Reference website shows that he will head into the final weekend of the ongoing regular season leading the NFL among qualified players with 4,641 passing yards and 42 passing touchdowns. However, his 8-8 Bengals can't claim the AFC North division title and could miss the playoffs entirely. 

Meanwhile, Darnold has the 14-2 Vikings a win over the 14-2 Detroit Lions on Sunday night away from entering the postseason as the NFC's No. 1 overall seed. He's ranked fourth in the league with 4,153 passing yards and fifth with 35 touchdowns through the air. 

Some predicted after the Vikings signed Darnold to a one-year contract last March that they'd finish this season with a losing record. Instead, the third overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, who flopped during stints with the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers and who spent the bulk of the 2023 campaign as a backup with the San Francisco 49ers, could now be a couple of months away from earning a massive pay increase via a new deal or due to having his rights for 2025 retained via the franchise tag. 

Jones mentioned that Darnold "has been one of the biggest stories of the" season, but it remains to be seen if votes for the 27-year-old to win Comeback Player of the Year will be accepted.