It’s comparing apples to oranges when you look at some of the narratives surrounding this season’s NFL Comeback Player of the Year candidates.
We’re approaching the one-year mark of Damar Hamlin’s shocking cardiac arrest scare amidst a Monday night game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals.
The televised horror left those wondering about the status of the then-24-year-old’s well-being first and foremost.
His future as a football player was not so much as a vibrating thought.
But here we are, almost 12 months later, the most miraculous recovery in sports history has Hamlin active on the 53-man Bills roster while they vie for playoff position in the AFC.
The story is generational.
If Hamlin’s journey back to full capacity — not just as an athlete but as a person — doesn’t serve as inspiration, nothing will.
His contributions to the Bills’ ongoing 8-6 campaign and playoff chase is irrelevant, so there is no need to examine what numbers he has or hasn’t posted in the limited action he has seen.
The betting market recognizes how the human story trumps statistics with human voters.
Hamlin has been the oddsmaker’s Comeback Player of the Year frontrunner from the get-go and sits as a -600 favorite with three weeks remaining in the regular season, despite just having two tackles through 15 weeks.
It would be almost unethical to award it to anyone else no matter what kinds of heads are turned, but if you wanted to pick somebody earning the honors through other means, it’s hard not to marvel at what quarterback Joe Flacco is doing right now.
His 4-7 record as a backup on the Jets over the course of three seasons was enough to call it a career that featured a Super Bowl through an 11-year tenure as the Ravens’ starter.
But the quarterback position has been fickle this year — not only in consistency, but in health.
Kevin Stefanski has steered the Browns to what is likely to be their second playoff appearance in the last 21 seasons. Cleveland wins on defensive prowess, relenting an NFL-leading 261 total yards per game.
Deshaun Watson managed the offense serviceably, completing 61.4 percent of his passes with seven touchdowns through parts of six games.
When his season concluded with shoulder surgery, the Browns long-awaited success was in jeopardy as it was evident both Dorian Thompson-Robinson and P.J. Walker were liabilities.
In came the 38-year-old Flacco — who signed a one-year, $4.05 million contract loaded with incentives — and it clicked instantly.
It’s fair to say his arrival saved Cleveland’s season; the Browns are 2-1 since, but Flacco has been an upgrade to what was a pedestrian offense.
He has seven passing touchdowns throughout the three games, which is one more than Kenny Pickett had in 12.
Flacco has managed to launch these seven touchdowns within 133 attempts; Zach Wilson has eight touchdowns on 363 passes.
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Flacco was home in New Jersey with his wife and five children pondering his future and wondering if his career was over when Cleveland called.
He’s had his rustiness with five interceptions, but all things considered, signing the quarterback was a Hail Mary and its impact has been remarkable on the Browns.
It’s a pairing that feels meant to be: Both a franchise and a player that has surely paid dues in the NFL meshing in the 11th hour for a success recipe.
Hamlin wins the award from an existential standpoint, but there is no better case to be made than Flacco in a football context.
“Mr. Elite” is a +1200 longshot to win the award heading into the Browns Week 16 kickoff against the Texans.
Three weeks ago, Flacco’s odds sat at +25000.
If nothing else, Hamlin taught us anything is possible.
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