ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Lombardi Trophy will be presented to the Super Bowl champions soon enough, but between now and then, a different sort of hardware will be handed out.
The NFL Honors event is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. Thursday. A number of awards will be announced that night, including Comeback Player of the Year, for which Bills safety Damar Hamlin is nominated.
Hamlin could join Doug Flutie (1998) as the only Bills players to claim that award.
So, should Hamlin win Comeback Player of the Year? Here's the case for and against him winning it.
First, let's start with the definition for Comeback Player of the Year. According to the NFL, it's given to a player who "shows perseverance in overcoming adversity, in the form of not being in the NFL the previous year, a severe injury, or simply poor performance."
Why Hamlin might win
He played. Yes, Hamlin had only two tackles in five games, and that's nowhere near the 82 tackles and 1.5 sacks he posted the year before. But he made the 53-man roster, and he played, which is something many people doubted he would be able to do after going into cardiac arrest during a prime-time game on Jan. 2, 2023, in Cincinnati. He was brought back to life on the field, and his recovery in the months that followed captivated the country. It also renewed widespread interest in CPR classes and the use of AEDs. What player made a bigger medical comeback and cultural impact than that?
Why Hamlin might not win
In a fantasy football-filled era, people are obsessed with stats, and those two tackles in five games will be scrutinized. The other candidates are quarterbacks who are following a more traditional down season.
Tua Tagovailoa bounced back from a 13-game season marred by concussions to play every game this season and lead the Dolphins to the playoffs. The Rams' Matthew Stafford also made the playoffs after an injury-riddled, nine-game campaign in 2022. Baker Mayfield went from playing in five games as Stafford's backup in 2022 to leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to an NFC South Division title. Then there's 39-year-old Joe Flacco, who also played in just five games in 2022 — for the New York Jets — but went 4-1 in late regular-season starts for playoff-bound Cleveland, a span in which he topped 300 yards passing in four straight games.