The NFL Honors stage in Las Vegas was supposed to be the coronation of a miracle. Everyone thought so. Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills safety who literally died on a football field in Cincinnati only to be resuscitated in front of a horrified national audience, was standing there. He had suited up for five games in 2023. He was alive. He was playing. It was the ultimate comeback.
But then the envelope opened.
Joe Flacco.
Wait, what? The 39-year-old guy who spent the first half of the season throwing passes to his kids in a New Jersey backyard? Yeah, that guy. The 2023 comeback player of the year nfl award didn't go to the man who cheated death. It went to the man who cheated retirement.
The Night the Math Broke
Honestly, the voting was a mess. Or a masterpiece of complexity, depending on how much you like spreadsheets. For the first time, the Associated Press used a weighted voting system: five points for first place, three for second, and one for third.
Damar Hamlin actually grabbed more first-place votes. He had 21. Flacco only had 13.
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But Flacco was the "silver medal" king. He appeared on almost every ballot in the second-place slot, racking up 26 of them. When the dust settled, Flacco had 151 total points. Hamlin had 140. A narrow 11-point gap decided one of the most controversial awards in recent memory. You’ve got to wonder if the voters just didn't know how to handle a guy who didn't play much. Hamlin was active for five games but mostly played special teams, recording only two tackles.
Flacco, on the other hand, was slinging it.
From the Couch to the Playoffs
Let’s look at the "Elite" Joe Flacco era in Cleveland. It was absurd. Deshaun Watson went down. Dorian Thompson-Robinson struggled. The Browns were desperate. They called Flacco in late November. He signed to the practice squad on November 20. By December, he was the hottest quarterback in the league.
He didn't just play; he dominated.
- 1,616 passing yards in just five games.
- 13 touchdowns, leading the league in that specific stretch.
- Four consecutive 300-yard games—a Browns franchise record.
He led Cleveland to a 4-1 record as a starter and secured a playoff berth that felt impossible a month prior. It was the "stat-head" vs. the "miracle-head." Voters eventually leaned toward the guy who impacted the win-loss column, even if his "adversity" was just being old and unemployed.
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The Baker Mayfield Factor
We can't talk about the 2023 comeback player of the year nfl without mentioning Baker Mayfield. He finished third in the voting with 93 points. If Flacco hadn't emerged from the shadows like a late-season ghost, Baker probably wins this easily.
He was essentially discarded by the Browns, then the Panthers, then the Rams. He signed a one-year "prove-it" deal in Tampa Bay for peanuts. Then he went out and threw for 4,044 yards and 28 touchdowns. He won the NFC South. He won a playoff game. It was a career resuscitation of the highest order.
Why the NFL Changed the Rules Because of 2023
The backlash was real. People were genuinely upset that a guy coming off the couch beat a guy who survived cardiac arrest. Even Flacco kind of agreed. He told CBS Sports Radio that he thought Hamlin deserved it more.
"I'm just coming back from, what, being old?" Flacco quipped.
Because of this specific 2023 outcome, the AP actually clarified the criteria for the 2024 season and beyond. They wanted to fix the "Geno Smith/Joe Flacco" trend where players win just for "not sucking anymore" or being a late-career surprise. The new guidance specifically tells voters to prioritize players who overcame illness or physical injury that forced them to miss significant time. Basically, the "Flacco Loophole" is closed.
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The Other Finalists Nobody Remembers
Matthew Stafford and Tua Tagovailoa were also in the mix. Stafford was coming back from a spinal cord contusion that ended his 2022 season early. He looked like his old self, leading the Rams to a surprise playoff spot. Tua was coming back from the "concussion season" that nearly ended his career.
Both had legitimate claims. But in a year with a literal resurrection and a 39-year-old gunslinger lighting up the scoreboard, "solid quarterbacking" wasn't enough to move the needle.
What This Tells Us About NFL Awards
Awards are subjective. They always have been. The 2023 race proved that "Comeback" means different things to different people. Is it a comeback from a bad season? A comeback from injury? Or a comeback from the brink of death?
For the 50 voters in 2023, the answer was "productivity over sentimentality." They looked at the box score and saw Joe Flacco throwing for 300 yards every Sunday and decided that was the better story.
If you're looking at the history of the 2023 comeback player of the year nfl, you have to acknowledge the nuance. It wasn't a robbery, but it was a shift in philosophy.
Next Steps for Fans and Analysts:
Check the 2024 and 2025 voting results to see if the AP’s "new criteria" actually changed how people vote. Look specifically at players like Kirk Cousins or Aaron Rodgers who returned from Achilles tears. Comparing their point totals to Flacco’s 151 will tell you if the "injury requirement" is being strictly enforced or if voters still just love a good underdog story.