AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year

The AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year (CBPOY) is an annual award presented by the Associated Press (AP) to a player in the National Football League (NFL). While the criteria for the award is imprecise,^[1] it is typically given to a player who overcomes the worst adversity to return to play even a single snap of NFL football, such as not playing the previous season, injury, or for playing well in comparison to the previous year's poor performance.^[2] The winner is selected by a nationwide panel of media personnel.^[3] Since 2011, the award has been presented at the NFL Honors ceremony held in the days leading up to the Super Bowl. Beginning with the 2024 season, the criteria for the award was changed to emphasize players coming back from "illness, physical injury, or other circumstances that led him to miss playing time the previous season", as opposed to players having resurgent performances or "coming back from sucking".^[4][5]

The AP first recognized an NFL comeback player of the year from 1963 to 1966, but these players are typically not included in overall lists of winners.^[6] The AP did not give the award again until the 1998 season. Only two players have received the award more than once since the AFL–NFL merger: quarterbacks Chad Pennington, who received it in 2006 and 2008 as a member of the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins, respectively, and Joe Burrow, who won it in 2021 and 2024.^[7]