Mid-season NFL awards (2023):

Patriots Dolphins Football

Comeback Player of the Year:

1. Tua Tagovailoa

2. Breece Hall

3. Matthew Stafford

I’m not going to spend too much time talking about this award because the parameters of how this is voted for simply aren’t defined properly. It basically just states “an NFL player who has shown perseverance in overcoming adversity”. We saw that last year when Geno Smith legitimately played at like a top-ten quarterback in the league by all the numbers and the eye test, but I’m not sure “coming back” from sitting on the bench should qualify him. This year, it almost seemed like a foregone conclusion that Damar Hamlin would win it if he just stepped on an NFL field at all, yet he’s only even been active for one game so far. So now that feels a little weird.

I went with Tua at number one, because he went from being a question mark about how much longer his pro career may last due to multiple concussions last season to being an MVP candidate for the most explosive offense in the league, as described in that first category. That thought thankfully hasn’t entered our mind since and he’s actually improved from last year, contributing more beyond the system than what he had shown prior.

Breece Hall came in second for me, since he was off to a sensational start as a rookie, turning 99 touches into 681 yards and five touchdowns through the first six-and-a-half weeks, before tearing his ACL – and you saw the offense drop off substantially once he was out, ultimately benching Zach Wilson and winning just two of their remaining ten games, following a 5-2 start. The Jets tried to bring him on slowly this season, but the explosiveness has been on display pretty much from the start, turning 11 opportunities into 147 in the opener against the Bills. The efficiency has been down a little bit, with a lot of obvious running downs where he gets hit behind the line of scrimmage, but he still averages just under six yards per carry as the only thing this offense hopes will pop any given week.

There’s no need to talk too much about Matt Stafford at this point after I sang my praises of him three weeks ago when I had him at number six as part of “the one-man shows” of my quarterback rankings. Back then I said he’s the most fun quarterback to watch right now and while Lamar is certainly challenging him for that title, if his absence with a banged-up thumb is limited to just last week and he continues at a similar pace, he absolutely has to be considered. Particularly with what the sentiment on him and the Rams as a whole was before the year kicked off, coming off a neck injury as the latest in line of an extensive medical history, which put his season on ice, following a 3-6 start. The traditional stats will tell he’s only completing just under 60% of his passes, with eight touchdowns compared to seven interceptions, but those don’t even come close to encapsulating the level he’s played, as he has the league’s top big-time throw (7.0%) vs. turnover-worth play rate (2.0%).

Honorable mentions: Damar Hamlin