Peter King & Don Banks Vote D'Qwell Jackson as Comeback Player of the Year

by Chris Pokorny on Jan 5, 2012 6:30 PM EST

Sports Illustrated had their writers vote on several award categories today, and one of the categories featured a member of the Cleveland Browns: linebacker D'Qwell Jackson. Jackson was voted as the Comeback Player of the Year by Peter King, Don Banks, and Tom Mantzouranis.

Most of the categories that were voted on had a clear-cut winner. Aaron Rodgers was the unanimous MVP, and Drew Brees was almost the unanimous Offensive Player of the Year. Cam Newton was the unanimous Offensive Rookie of the Year, and John Harbaugh was the unanimous Coach of the Year. Both defensive awards had a mix of several players, as did the Comeback Player of the Year award. The players who received votes were:

LB D'Qwell Jackson: 3 votes
QB Matthew Stafford: 3 votes
QB Alex Smith: 1 vote
RB Willis McGahee: 1 vote

This award is tough to define sometimes. Do you give it to someone who made a remarkable return from injury, or do you give it to someone who finally did good after pretty much..."sucking" their entire career? I almost forgot about Stafford as a candidate for the award, as I originally thought it might come down to being between Jackson and Smith. Stafford played only 13 games in his first two seasons before lighting it up this year. If it matters, I think there was more of a certainty that Stafford would get back on the field than knowing if Jackson would be able to return, let alone as one of the league's better linebackers for a whole season. McGahee isn't a bad choice for discussion either.

If we had to narrow the field down to Jackson and one other player for this award, who would you nominate?

Poll

Which player, other than LB D'Qwell Jackson, deserves the most consideration for Comeback Player of the Year?

QB Matthew Stafford

95 votes

QB Alex Smith

111 votes

RB Willis McGahee

54 votes

260 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Stafford and Smith were never good enough in the first place to have a “comeback” year.

by Brownie's Year on Jan 5, 2012 8:13 PM EST reply actions

Stafford’s is more based on injury though. Like Chris said, 13 games over 2 seasons. Before this season, I thought he was made of glass (still do to some degree). Smith was just an underachiever who FINALLY managed to live up the expectation there was out of the draft. I don’t see him as really come back from anything besides mediocrity.

Even Doug Dieken admits Joe Thomas is the real #73

by Doc's Kid on Jan 5, 2012 9:19 PM EST up reply actions

I honest cant pick, because DQ deserves it

by champion64 on Jan 5, 2012 9:55 PM EST up reply actions

I can see the argument for Stafford, but Alex Smith is insane.

by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 5, 2012 10:38 PM EST up reply actions

Stafford never had sustained success to really “come back” from. He has a better argument than Smith, but that’s not saying much imo.

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by bross09 on Jan 6, 2012 1:24 PM EST up reply actions

Everyone knew Stafford was pretty good, he just couldn’t stay healthy. With that said, I’m voting for Alex Smith.

"They kept throwing it at me. I don’t know why. They just kept trying, and I just kept knocking it down." -- Joe Haden

by Kimble_79 on Jan 6, 2012 8:49 AM EST reply actions

Don’t get me wrong, I like Jackson, but he won this award extremely quietly. He’s a good linebacker, and a good tackler, and he has quietly been among the league leaders in tackles twice or three times before. My problem with him is that he isn’t a game changer like Ray Lewis or Brian Urlacher. Just saying that we need more game changers on both sides of the ball.

by duke4711 on Jan 6, 2012 7:49 PM EST reply actions