Bradley Chubb longer shot to be first Broncos defender to win NFL Comeback Player of the Year

No Denver Broncos defensive player has ever won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award. Perhaps outside linebacker Bradley Chubb will be the first this season. He's a +4000 longer shot, though, on the moneyline odds at William Hill sportsbook.

Actually, no Broncos player overall has ever won it when he played for the Broncos the season before. What do we mean by that? Quarterback Peyton Manning was the 2012 winner. He didn't play in the 2011 season and before that was with the Indianapolis Colts.

Chubb was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft out of NC State – he holds the school's career record with 60 tackles for loss and 26 sacks -- and was a Defensive Rookie of the Year finalist that season with 12 sacks. He lost out to Colts linebacker Darius Leonard. Chubb's 12 sacks were a franchise record for a rookie and the seventh-most in NFL history by a first-year player.  For a point of comparison, fellow Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller, a future Hall of Famer, had 11.5 sacks as a rookie.

Alas, last season Chubb was limited to four games. On Sept. 29, 2019, at home vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars, Chubb suffered a partial ACL tear yet actually played through it. He had a sack and forced fumble in that last-second loss. In fact, had the Broncos recovered that Gardner Minshew fumble forced by Chubb, they would have been able to ice the game. They didn't, and the Jaguars would kick the winning 33-yard field goal as time expired.

Chubb is now fully healthy and will be good to go for training camp. Denver's defense could be scary good if Chubb and Miller stay healthy as the Broncos gave up 24 or fewer points in all but one of their final nine games in 2019. Denver is a 2.5-point favorite on the NFL odds at home in Week 1 (second Monday night game) vs. Tennessee. 

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