Asti: Sam Darnold Not Qualifying Creates Hypocrisy Over Geno Smith’s 2022 NFL CPOY Win

Geno Smith’s memorable 2022 season earned him the NFL Comeback Player of the Year honor, but a new clarification to the award makes his win hypocritical.

When Smith started off playing well and leading the Seahawks to wins early in that season, few thought he would be able to stay at that level all year. But he did, and he led Seattle to the playoffs after a season that reached historic levels. He did this after spending most of the prior decade as a backup or castoff following a failed initial stint with the New York Jets at the start of his NFL career.

It's nice when voters clarify how to win an award, but making it only coming back from injury kinda sucks. If you lose a job, then play well with a new one after being counted out, that's a comeback story. This clarification also makes Geno Smith's win hypocritical. https://t.co/di1mjHBldl

— Mike J. Asti (@MikeAsti11) October 11, 2024

During his award winning 2022 season, Smith threw for 4,282 yards with 30 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions. He completed a league-leading 69.8% of his passes, posted an 100.9 rating overall and also ran for 366 yards and scored a touchdown on the ground.

At one point, Smith’s season was historic in terms of efficiency, tying an NFL record for the most consecutive games completing at least 60% of his passes and doing it with an 80 or better rating. The only other quarterbacks to ever be that consistent efficient for as many games in a row in one season are Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers.

Sounds like an incredible comeback story, right?

Well, not so fast. Smith’s 2022 season wouldn’t qualify based on the current bylaws.

After controversy and debate over Joe Flacco winning the 2023 award over Damar Hamlin, who literally almost died on the field earlier in the season, the Associated Press issued a clarification and guidance for their voters about the intentions for the award and what type of season truly constitutes being deserving of the Comeback Player of the Year title.

“The spirit of the award is to honor a player who has demonstrated resilience in the face of adversity by overcoming illness, physical injury or other circumstances that led him to miss playing time the previous season,” read part of that clarification. This also means that Sam Darnold won’t be taking home the trophy this year.

There had been some confusion in recent years about what constitutes a “comeback,” so the @AP clarified this offseason with the guidance @RobMaaddi provides below. So Sam Darnold, considered the favorite by many right now, doesn’t actually fit the new criteria. https://t.co/eLoBSnLBPa

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 11, 2024

Darnold, much like Smith two years ago, is achieving individual and team success few predicted. He’s taking advantage of an opportunity after years of toiling around as a backup or afterthought himself. Again like Smith, Darnold opened his NFL journey struggling with the Jets. He then also failed to resurrect his career with the Carolina Panthers and experienced a year with the San Francisco 49ers.

Through five games, Darnold currently has 1,111 passing yards, 11 touchdown passes, only four interceptions and a completion percentage at 63.5%. He also has the Vikings undefeated at 5-0 and at the top of the NFC North.

Darnold and Smith are both proof that sometimes a player, especially a quarterback, needs to be in the right situation in order to reach their potential. But now according to the NFL and AP, their comeback journeys aren’t worthy of an award for comeback stories anymore.

Sounds pretty asinine, doesn’t it? In actuality, a player being written off and not writing back (to use Smith’s own words) sounds like a comeback story made for a movie.

Also, it’s worth noting that if Hamlin, who likely would’ve won over Flacco under these guidelines, recorded literally two tackles in total all season.

Of course, the NFL or AP isn’t going to take Smith’s award away from him after the fact, but Darnold and other similar tales are clearly out of luck moving forward.

While in Las Vegas covering the Pro Bowl, Smith put his 2022 season into perspective during a chat with our Mike Asti.