NFL Comeback Player of the Year odds: Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford

The Detroit Lions were an utter disaster last season in finishing 3-12-1, and it has put Coach Matt Patricia on an extremely hot seat entering 2020 after back-to-back last-place finishes in the NFC North. However, the 2019 Lions certainly would have had at least a few more victories had quarterback Matthew Stafford stayed healthy. The former No. 1 overall pick is a +700 favorite on the moneyline odds at William Hill sportsbook to win the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award.

Stafford was off to the best start of his career last year through eight games. He had completed 64.3 percent of his passes for 2,499 yards (on pace for 4,998), 19 touchdowns (on pace for 38) and only five picks for a rating of 106.0 that was easily a career high.

Yes, the Lions were just 3-4-1 in those eight games, but three of the four losses were by a combined 12 points. And, frankly, Detroit shouldn't have tied Arizona in Week 1 but blew that game.

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Alas, Stafford didn't take the field again following a 31-24 Week 9 loss in Oakland where he threw for 406 yards and three touchdowns. Stafford suffered some fractured bones in his back, and those ended his streak of 136 straight starts dating to the end of the 2010 season. It was the second straight season Stafford dealt with a back injury, although he played through it in 2018.

Frankly, 2019 was tough overall for Stafford as his wife Kelly had to have brain surgery as well. Plus, Stafford had to learn a new offense under coordinator Darrell Bevell, which Stafford called a "tough" mix of things to handle. However, he says playing a second straight year in the same offense is a "positive."

Stafford is 100 percent healthy now and has been working out. The Lions got him some potentially major offensive help in the offseason in drafting Georgia running back D'Andre Swift in Round 2. He was the highest-rated running back on the CBS Big Board for the Class of 2020. Swift also is an excellent receiver out of the backfield.

If Stafford were to win Comeback Player of the Year, he would join Chad Pennington as the only guys to ever win it twice but first for the same team. Stafford won in 2011 after playing just three games the year before.

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