Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is the winner of The Sporting News NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award for the 2023 season.

Tagovailoa was chosen in a vote by the league’s players, coaches and executives.

Last week, the Pro Football Writers of America named Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin as the winner of its NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award for the 2023 season.

Next week, The Associated Press will announce the winner of its NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award on Feb. 8. Tagovailoa and Hamlin are finalists for that award, along with quarterbacks Joe Flacco of the Cleveland Browns, Baker Mayfield of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams.

In announcing its award, The Sporting News reported Tagovailoa received 37.3 percent of the votes to win, with Hamlin second at 25.6 percent.

In 2022, Tagovailoa missed five games and more than half of another because of concussions – one sustained on Sept. 29 in a 27-15 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals and the other on Dec. 25 in a 26-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers.

For the first concussion, the former Alabama All-American was at University of Cincinnati Medical Center by halftime after being taken off the field on a stretcher. On the second, Tagovailoa played the entire game before entering the NFL concussion protocol the next day.

Tagovailoa remained at that status through the final two games of the 2022 regular season and the Dolphins’ 34-31 playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills.

In 2023, Tagovailoa started every Miami game, including a playoff contest, as he led the NFL with 4,624 passing yards.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.