The Carolina Panthers had this year’s runner-up for The Associated Press Comeback Player of the Year award . . . for six games.
On Thursday night, the honors—at NFL Honors—went to Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith. Smith’s inspiring 2022 campaign—one in which he passed for 4,281 yards, 30 touchdowns and a league-leading 69.8-percent completion rate—earned him 28 first-place votes en route to the hardware.
In second, with a solid 12 first-place votes of his own, came former Panthers star and San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey.
McCaffrey was traded to San Francisco on Oct. 20 for four draft picks. From there, he’d help the 49ers capture an NFC West crown—as they rattled off wins in 10 of their final 11 regular-season contests.
In those final six outings with the Panthers, McCaffrey—who missed 23 of a possible 33 games in the two seasons prior—rushed for 393 yards and two touchdowns while reeling in 33 receptions for 277 yards and another score. He finished the entire comeback campaign with 1,139 rushing yards, 741 receiving yards and 13 total visits to the end zone.
