3 reasons why Russell Wilson is a legitimate candidate to win CPOTY in 2024

As the offseason soon approaches its end with preseason just around the corner, one of the main topics of discussion amongst fans has been regarding NFL award predictions and which individual players will be adding to their trophy case next offseason. Speaking of hot topics, earlier this year, Seattle Seahawks QB Geno Smith was officially named the 2022 AP comeback player of the year at the annual NFL Honors. Fans quickly took to social media to immediately criticize the award and label it as "undeserved".

While Smith did have a surprisingly incredible season in 2022, what exactly did he come back from? Some like to joke that he came back from having to play for the New York Jets, which is a tad funny. With that logic, I think it is pretty fair to say Russell Wilson is a front-runner to win the award in 2024 simply due to having to play for former head coach Nathaniel Hackett. But all jokes aside, giving this award to Smith who had battled through no injuries the previous year and had not played a full season since his rookie year in 2013 is quite ridiculous considering Giants RB Saquon Barkley and 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey had impressive seasons coming off severe injuries in 2021.

On the flip side, heading into the 2023 season, now begs the question: who will the award next? The obvious and most likely candidate seems to be Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin who tragically passed away on the football field twice during a game to eventually being revived twice and now practicing for his team with the hopes to play at some point during the 2023 season. Coming back from a tragedy of that nature to potentially being able to suit up again and make physical contact would be a remarkable story for Hamlin and would absolutely deserve to win the award.

However, for Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, tons of fans around the league have completely squashed him from the CPOTY conversation, despite the 34-year-old signal caller having a ton of circumstances against him in the 2022 season. And the only factor that is ever mentioned is that he had a poor season in 2022 just like Geno Smith had come back from being a "below average" quarterback, thus making him eligible for the award. If this is truly what it takes to start winning the award, then the NFL Honors voting system is completely flawed and they should seriously consider adding a "Most Improved Player of the Year" award in future ceremonies.

Starting in week 4 of the 2022 season, Russell Wilson had begun to deal with numerous injuries including a torn lat in his throwing shoulder, a grade 2 hamstring tear, a grade 1 concussion, and a knee strain that required surgery after the season concluded. All of these injuries were said to be impacting his play throughout the season and somehow managed to battle through the gruesome injuries all season long and miss just two games.

Yes, just two games.

Even with all of the poor coaching across the entire offensive staff (besides maybe OC Justin Outten) and the countless amount of starters on the injured reserve, Wilson managed to put his body on the line even when the team was eliminated from the playoffs and gave his best effort to win games with an extremely beat up body. If Wilson had decided to do the right thing, which most quarterbacks probably would have done, and chose to give his body a rest and more time to recover on the injury report rather than jumping right back into games, perhaps he would have fewer haters, weirdly enough.

The majority of Russell Wilson's doubters have absolutely no idea or just do not remember any of the injuries he had to battle through last season. But since they see on paper he had only missed two out of 17 games total, they think he simply was awful the entire season and that the blame falls entirely on himself. The narrative would be much different if Wilson had missed more games and given his body time to heal. In fact, he would probably have a much higher chance of winning the comeback player of the year award, to begin with. There are people that seriously believe Jets RB Breece Hall is more likely to win the award when only two RBs in NFL history have ever taken home the honors as opposed to quarterbacks winning it 17 times.

The agenda against Russell Wilson is still mind-blowing to this day and unbelievable how many fans truly celebrate his "failures". With a much-improved roster from top to bottom, especially on the offensive side, and adding a more proven and experienced offense around Wilson that fits his skillsets will not only aid his success but build him back to the standard he expects of himself. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Russ is bound for one of the greatest comeback seasons of all time and he will show that in 2023.