Even though Joe Burrow ran away with the Comeback Player of the Year award in 2024, the honor has not been without controversy in recent years. Joe Flacco earning the nod over heavy preseason favorite Damar Hamlin caused the Associated Press to clarify to voters that the award was intended to "honor a player who 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."

Despite the clarified guidelines, Sam Darnold finished third in the voting (just ahead of Hamlin again) even though his situation, where he was "coming back" from being a backup, was supposed to be the scenario that gets discounted with the new emphasis on missed playing time the previous year. The voters rewarded Geno Smith in 2022 for a similar scenario, opting to go with the revitalized starting quarterback over Christian McCaffrey, who was coming back from not one but two devastating season-ending injuries in successive years.

Burrow's win marked the seventh straight year a quarterback has taken home Comeback Player of the Year, though the favorite at multiple books is Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson, who played just 4.5 games last year while racking up 7.5 sacks. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is the other player favored or co-favored at the major sportsbooks, with 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey and Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence just behind the favorites. 

Will Prescott or Lawrence (or another player further down the odds board) keep the streak going for QBs? Let's look at our 10 best betting options for Comeback Player of the Year along with three longshots of +10000 or greater to consider.

So who gets the top spot as the best Comeback Player of the Year bet this season? And which longshots are worth considering? ... Join SportsLine here to see R.J. White's NFL Comeback Player of the Year best bet rankings for 2025!