Short answers, pulled from the story.
The AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year, sometimes abbreviated CBPOY, is an annual award the Associated Press gives to an NFL player who returns to play after significant adversity, such as missing the previous season, dealing with injury, or following a poor season with a strong one. The winner is chosen by a nationwide panel of media personnel.
A nationwide panel of media personnel selects the winner each year. Since 2011, the winner has been announced at the NFL Honors ceremony, held in the days leading up to the Super Bowl.
Beginning with the 2024 season, the criteria were changed to emphasize players coming back from illness, physical injury, or other circumstances that led them to miss playing time the previous season. This moved the award away from simply rewarding resurgent performances.
Only two players have won the award more than once since the AFL-NFL merger: quarterback Chad Pennington, who won in 2006 with the New York Jets and in 2008 with the Miami Dolphins, and quarterback Joe Burrow, who won in 2021 and 2024 with the Cincinnati Bengals.
The AP first recognized a comeback player of the year from 1963 to 1966, naming separate NFL and AFL honorees each season. The award was then not given again until the 1998 season, and the 1963 to 1966 winners are typically not included in overall lists of winners.
Christian McCaffrey, a running back for San Francisco, is the last name recorded on the award's list of winners, which extends through the 2025 season.