The 2022 NFL season is just 50 days away and as well as considering which teams are going to win their divisions, conferences or the Super Bowl, we can also identify the top candidates for this season’s individual awards.
One honor which can be won for a variety of reasons is the Comeback Player of the Year award, which goes to a player who has had a down year — either through poor performances or, more likely, injury — who bounces back to impress again the following season. The last two winners, Alex Smith of the regularly renamed Washington team, and Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, were both coming off major injuries, as was Colts QB Andrew Luck in what proved to be his final season in 2018, but in between Ryan Tannehill won it merely by rejuvenating his career and having a lot more success with Tennessee than he had in his final year in Miami.
You may have noticed that makes 4 straight QB winners, so it would be remiss not to have a passer among our picks. QBs have indeed won 10 of the last 14 awards with two wide receivers (Keenan Allen and Jordy Nelson), a tight end (Rob Gronkowski) and Kansas City safety Eric Berry being the exceptions.
Let's take a look at the odds and the best bets to be made.