Wanna Bet? Dak Prescott, Saquon Barkley and Tim Tebow (?) Among NFL 'Comeback Player' Award Favorites

So the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award winner in 2021 will be ... Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.

FRISCO - It makes perfect sense. His ankle injury was high-profile and gruesome. His rehab, complete with a new $160 million contract, is high-profile and, the Dallas Cowboys say, awesome.

So the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award winner in 2021 will be ... Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.

DraftKings has one guy as the runaway favorite for this year, and it is fairly difficult to argue against his +175 odds to win the award after sustaining that season-ending ankle fracture in Week 5 of the 2020 season.

The Cowboys went down as a team because of it, finishing 6-10 ... and are expected to rebound this year as Dak rebounds. The success of the Cowboys would go hand-in-hand with the sort of attention it would take to win this sort of award.

Other candidates? The next three guys all have +600 odds and legit cases: Giants running back Saquon Barkley, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey are coming off of serious injuries and line up behind Dak.

A defensive star, 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa, is in the mix at +700 after exiting in Week 2 of the 2020 season.

And then come some oddities. Is it a comeback if Colts quarterback Carson Wentz (+900), Panthers quarterback Sam Darnold (+1600) or Saints quarterback Jameis Winston (+3300) play well this year?

And what is broadcaster/baseball player Tim Tebow (+3300) doing on this list? The Jags' candidate to be a third-string tight end - who isn't really on an NFL team yet - is going to get some votes?

Probably not. But maybe he's on the list for one of the same reasons Dak is: To encourage the betting public into salivating their way to the window.

READ MORE: Brett Hundley: The Dallas Cowboys QB Answer To Back Up Dak?


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Mike Fisher
MIKE FISHER

Mike Fisher - as a newspaper beat writer and columnist and on radio and TV, where he is an Emmy winner - has covered the NFL since 1983 and the Dallas Cowboys since 1990, is the author of two best-selling books on the Cowboys.