The votes are in.
As the 2024 NFL season draws to a close, HuddleUK reveals its award winners.
One UK fan from each of the 32 NFL franchises has voted, with some awards extremely close.
Today, we reveal the winner of HuddleUKâs comeback player of the year award.
Winner – Sam Darnold [19 votes]
After an unbelievable season in which it initially appeared he would not even be a starter, Sam Darnold has topped the HuddleUK Comeback Player of the Year poll.
He threw for 4,319 passing yards as well as throwing 35 touchdowns to only 12 interceptions, this season saw him named to his first Pro Bowl.
After failed stints as a starter for the Jets and the Panthers, Darnold had been labelled as a career back up however a season ending injury to first round pick J.J. McCarthy saw him become the starter.
Leading the Vikings to a 14-3 record this year, only one win away from the number one seed.
Darnold and the Vikings beat all expectations this year and had many people believing they were legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
Runner-Up – Joe Burrow [7 votes]
Joe Burrow had an unbelievable season which saw him in the running for MVP, OPOY and Comeback Player of the Year.
Burrow lead the league in passing yards with 4,918 and touchdowns with 43 while only throwing nine interceptions.
There was no stopping this Bengals passing attack this year and there was a reason many teams in the AFC were hoping that Cincinnati would miss the playoffs as they would have been a threat to anyone on their day.
While statistically Burrow had a much better season than Darnold, the comeback to relevance which nobody could have seen coming was viewed as more impressive by Darnold.
Thus leaving Burrow on the outside looking in for this award.
Third – J.K. Dobbins [3 votes]
Dobbins rushed for 905 yards this season and scored nine rushing touchdowns.
What makes this more impressive is that he averaged a very healthy 4.6 yards per rush.
So while 905 yards may not be an eye-catching number this was more down to protecting Dobbins body than anything else.
The talent has never been in doubt, just the ability to stay on the field in the NFL, having already suffered a torn ACL and a torn Achilles tendon.
Either of these easily could have been career enders so for J.K. to be on the field and producing again is unbelievable and that is why he was in our Comeback Player of the Year poll.
