NFL Comeback Player of the Year candidates for 2019

On the latest NFL Mocks Podcast, we discuss the top NFL Comeback Player of the Year candidates around the league for the 2019 season.

Every year in the NFL, the injury bug rears its ugly head and takes away some of the league’s top playmakers on both sides of the football. Which players ended the 2018 season on injured reserve and are now candidates to win the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award in 2019?

On the latest NFL Mocks Podcast, Brooks Austin and I talked about a number of players around the league who could be top candidates. We also answered some mailbag questions and talked about which quarterback we would rather have — DeShaun Watson or Carson Wentz.

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Here’s a little preview of the episode and a quick snippet of some of the players Brooks and I feel are strong candidates for the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award in 2019.

Cooper Kupp, WR, Rams

Before he went down with a season-ending knee injury, Cooper Kupp was on pace for over 1,000 yards receiving and 12 touchdowns.

Through his first two NFL seasons, Kupp has 11 touchdowns and averages over 14 yards per catch. The Rams were certainly ‘fine’ without him, but Kupp is a difference maker for them and who knows what kind of difference he could have made for this team in the Super Bowl against New England?

He almost (tried) came back for that game.

Kupp is a major piece of the Rams’ offense. To not have him or a fully healthy Todd Gurley at the end of last season took too much away from LA’s potent attack.

Derrius Guice, RB, Redskins

Brooks brought up Guice’s name, and in all honesty, it’s easy to forget this guy was even picked up by Washington last year.

The Redskins signed Adrian Peterson who seemingly found the fountain of youth, and they have some other talented backs in Samaje Perine and Chris Thompson on the roster.

But Guice was in line for a starting role before his injury last year, and he should be in line for a big role again this year. He was dragging defenders in preseason play when he suffered his injury.

At 225 pounds, Guice runs a 4.49 and is a phenomenal athlete with speed and power. He has big-time potential with Dwayne Haskins as the featured pieces in that Washington backfield.

Carl Lawson, EDGE, Bengals

If Lawson fell to the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft because of injury concerns, I think it’s safe to say those have been validated at this point.

He did play 16 games his rookie season and looked like he was well on his way to becoming one of the NFL’s best young pass rushers. This past season, he played in just seven games and had just one sack.

Lawson had 8.5 sacks when he was fully healthy as a rookie, and he put those numbers up while starting only one game.

If he gets more snaps and a starting role in this Bengals defense, I think he could be a double-digit sack guy and one of the main reasons this team remains optimistic in what could be a very ‘down’ year.