NFL Award: Evaluating the Top Three Comeback Player of the Year Candidates

The NFL regular season is almost over, which means NFL spectators have seen enough from players and coaches for the season to evaluate.

The NFL award ceremony is on February 1st, 2020. But until then, Locked IN will give football fans a preview of what to expect while examining the top three candidates for the 2020 Comeback Player of the Year.

The last article, Locked IN covered the Coach of the Year. Now it’s time for the Comeback Player of the Year Award. For those who don’t know, the Comeback Player of the Year Award goes to the player who has shown the most “perseverance in overcoming adversity, in the form of not being in the NFL the previous year, a severe injury, or simply poor performance.”

Last year Titans QB Ryan Tannehill won it after having a down year and being traded by the Miami Dolphins. Tannehill finished last season with the best passer rating (117.5) and passing average (9.6), as well as career highs in completion percentage (70.23) and at the time a season-low in interceptions (six).

This year's top three candidates for the award include players who overcame the toughest adversity, career/season-ending health concerns.

QB Alex Smith

Team: Washington Football Team

2020 season: seven games played (GP), 66.4% completion (CMP), 1,420 yards, four touchdowns (TDs) and six interceptions (Int), 79 QB rating.

2019 season: Out for the season with a compound fracture in his right leg.

The fact that Smith can even walk again is a “miracle.” Smith's career was expected to be over after his right leg got caught at an awkward angle when tackled by the Texans on November 18, 2018. The injury was later confirmed as a compound fracture (bone broke through the skin) that had broken both his tibia and fibula in his right leg. To make matters worse, Smith’s leg got infected with a flesh-eating bacteria after surgery, which threatened him to lose his leg and his life.

As Washington’s team physician, Dr. Robin West said to ESPN, “our first priority is we’re going to save his life. And then we’re going to do our best to save his leg. And anything beyond that is a miracle.”

After 17 surgeries and two years of rehabbing, he is now back as the starting QB for the Washington Football Team. Although he is still not one hundred percent, with all the tissue loss Smith has to wear a special titanium brace for protection which impacts the way he moves.

Not only is Smith starting, but he is leading the team to wins and a possible playoff berth. Since being named the new starter, Smith has helped lead the team that was 2-6 to go 4-1 and now control their destiny for a playoff spot, as the Washington Football Team sits on top of the NFC East.

It took 20 months for Smith to be cleared to see the field after it was expected he wouldn’t play again, and it only took five weeks for him to turn the Washington Football Team season around. His season is the definition of perseverance, which has also inspired his team to fight through and upset teams like the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers (which Smith led the game-winning drive) and the tough defense of the 49ers.

Not only is his team inspired by him but many athletes as well, as many players have taken it to social media to show their support for Smith to win the award.

The argument against Smith is, even though him coming back is a “miracle,” there are other players who have come back from injuries as well and are having a better season, like the next two candidates that Locked IN mentions. Although, he did beat out the next contestant when their teams went head to head.

QB Ben Roethlisberger

Team: Pittsburgh Steelers

2020 season: 13 GP, 66 % CMP, 3,292 yards, 29 TDs and nine Ints, 95 QB rating.

2019 season: Played two games before suffering a right elbow injury that would end his season.

It doesn’t take an expert to see that the Steelers missed Roethlisberger last season. After going out in Week 2 versus the Seattle Seahawks with an elbow injury, Roethlisberger knew something was different from his usual elbow soreness and pain.

“I felt a different pain, a different discomfort than I had ever felt,” Roethlisberger said to the media over a zoom call. “It was kind of shooting down my arm. I knew something was different at that moment.”

It was an injury that gave him the option to retire, as it would require surgery since he tore three of his five flexor tendons in his right elbow “off the bone.” According to his wife, Roethlisberger knew that this couldn’t be the end as he told the team doctors “Thank you, but I don’t feel done. I’m not done.’”

After surgery, Roethlisberger would spend the rest of the 2019 season on the sideline and rehabbing. Meanwhile, the Steelers finished the season 8-8. Now with Big Ben back, the Steelers have the second-best record in football at 11-2, including an 11 game winning streak to start the season. Leading the way offensively is their QB, who is top five in touchdowns and second in passing attempts in the NFL. Stat wise, he is picking up where he left off in 2018, showing that he won't let coming back from injury decline his play.

The argument against Roethlisberger is that the other two candidates have to overcome a lot more to play than he did to play this season. Also, even though Roethlisberger has had a better season than Smith, he still ranks middle of the pack for the majority of QB statistics and QB play for the season. Especially in the last three losses, where he couldn’t pull together a game-winning drive and his interceptions cost the team the game. Lastly, there is the argument that the Steelers' top three ranked defense carried the team more to the great start than Roethlisberger.

LT Trent Williams

Team: San Francisco 49ers

2020 season: 12 games played, 12 starts, team’s top-graded offensive lineman

2019 season: Did not play. Was diagnosed with cancer and had disputes with the team.

Williams is a dark horse for this award, as most NFL analysts focus on Smith and Roethlisberger for the award, Williams had to overcome and is still overcoming just as much while still playing as one of the best for his position.

Last season, Williams held out for the first half of the season while demanding a trade. Part of the reason why Williams didn’t report was because of a lack of trust with the team.

According to Williams, Washington’s medical team “underestimated” a growth found on his head for about six years as a harmless cyst. When he went to have it removed by a non-team doctor in 2019, he found that the growth on his head was really a cancerous tumor that took three surgeries to remove and almost cost him his life.

According to the Washington Post, Williams "Doctors said it was weeks from moving to his brain when they removed the growth."

In addition to lack of trust, there were contract disputes as Williams was due for an extension, but Washington and Williams couldn’t agree on the numbers. However, he was willing to suit up for the second half of the season, but the team tagged a failed physical on him because of his inability to put on a helmet due to the discomfort. Soon after, they placed him on the non-football injury reserve list so they didn’t have to pay his base salary.

Now this season, Williams joined a new team in the 49ers. Even after battling his last team and cancer last season, Williams took the risk to play and ranks among the best offensive lineman in the NFL. According to PFF, just as recently as the beginning of the month, he was the second highest-graded offensive tackle in the NFL at 90 ( David Bakhtiari was first at 90.6). It wasn’t easy, as he battled and slowed down the top pass-rushers like Chase Young, Chandler Jones, and the LA Rams top-ranked defensive line (2X).

The argument against Williams is he is a victim of the position he plays, as the QB position has more pressure and impact than a tackle does in the NFL. Also, he chose to sit out part of the 2019 season because he didn’t want to play for the team he was on.

So who do you have winning the Comeback Player of the Year award?

Locked IN’s prediction is it will go to Washington Football Team QB Alex Smith. Even though both Williams and Roethlisberger had to overcome a lot and put up better stats for the season respectively, Smith was expected to not play the game again. Plus, Roethlisberger's injury didn't take two years to rehab, and Williams could have decided to play earlier last season.

Also, for Smith to come into a struggling team and help lead them to a winning streak that would place them at the top of their division, it’s hard not to give it to him.