Broncos Have Three Prime Comeback Player of the Year Candidates

Restoration is a theme of the 2023 Denver Broncos.

With Sean Payton as head coach, the Broncos are looking to restore their reputation as one of the winningest franchises in the history of professional sports. These past seven seasons have been tough, and they've been atypical.

Every team can expect a down year here or there. Seven in a row? Unheard of for the Broncos in the Super Bowl era.

There are a few individual Broncos seeking restoration, too. Here are three such players, each of whom has the chance to garner Comeback Player of the Year scrutiny.

Russell Wilson | QB

Wilson isn't looking to bounce back from a season lost to injury. But he is looking for restoration. The quarterback used the hashtag #RestorationSzn on a viral workout video he posted a couple of weeks back, and it was apropos.

Wilson's reputation could use some restorative attention, but there's only one way to effectuate that: win. Fortunately, winning is not a foreign concept or alien accomplishment to Wilson.

Few QBs in the current NFL have won more games than Wilson. The Broncos hired Payton to help salvage their quarter-billion-dollar investment in Wilson, and if the coach is successful, the veteran QB will be one of the comeback stories of the year.

Wilson's successor in Seattle — Geno Smith — won the A.P. Comeback Player of the Year award last year. A player doesn't have to be returning from injury to qualify for the CPOY. Peyton Manning is the only Bronco to ever win the award (2012), and, for what it's worth, he was returning from a season entirely lost to injury.

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Javonte Williams | RB

Williams suffered a multi-ligament knee injury in Week 4 and was lost for the season. It was a grievous injury, and yet, inexplicably, the Broncos have said all offseason that he is ahead of schedule in his recovery.

Time will tell whether the Broncos have been transparent on the Williams subject, but just in case, they hedged by signing Samaje Perine in free agency. Williams is a serious NFL talent, so if he can get back on the field sooner than later, he stands to be the biggest beneficiary of Payton's purported goal of creating a productive power running game.

Plus, Williams can catch, and he's a very physical player. Blocking in certain passing situations is no problem for him. Depending on when Williams hits the field, sans training wheels, he's a prime Comeback candidate for 2023, especially considering how successful running backs have been in Payton's offense traditionally.

The last running back to earn the Comeback Player of the Year accolade was Garrison Hearst back in 2001. It's been many moons.

Tim Patrick | WR

Going through Denver's 2022 post-mortem, Patrick is often overlooked as one of the primary culprits in Wilson's failure to launch. After mind-melding with Wilson throughout OTAs, Patrick suffered a torn ACL early in training camp last summer and was lost for the season.

This came on the heels of the Broncos signing Patrick to a three-year, $34 million extension the fall prior. Losing him last year hurt and no player felt his absence more than Wilson.

But Patrick is back, and enough time has passed since his injury that he's looking relaxed and natural out on the grass, not bogged down by the insecurities of testing his knee, which can always be detected optically. While the Broncos have two other wideouts who'll be given a big seat at the table, Patrick's reliability as a receiver, his knack for using his big body to box out defenders, and, of course, his ability at the catch point, will make him indispensable to Payton and Wilson.

While I have a hard time seeing anyone edging out Jerry Jeudy for Denver's WR1 designation this year, it wouldn't be surprising to see Patrick leapfrog Courtland Sutton in the new pecking order. A productive return in 2023 could put Patrick in the Comeback conversation, depending on to what degree he reemerges.

Keenan Allen is the last wide receiver to be named Comeback Player of the Year (2017).

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