With the regular season set to begin in less than two weeks, there are plenty of exciting questions about the Jacksonville Jaguars' season that will soon be answered.

Can Trevor Lawrence build on his career year and be a legitimate MVP candidate, cementing his spot as one of the NFL's best quarterbacks?

What new heights can the offense reach now that it has a year of head coach Liam Coen's system under its belt?

Will wide receiver Parker Washington and safety Antonio Johnson continue their ascents into stardom?

After being tops in the league against the run last season, how good can Jacksonville's be with an improved pass rush?

Is Brian Thomas Jr. back to being the player he was in his outstanding 2024 rookie season?

Perhaps the most exciting question for Jacksonville heading into the season is whether or not a healthy Travis Hunter becomes the superstar everyone thought he would be when the Jaguars drafted him second overall last year.

Hunter's unique two-way ability as a wide receiver and cornerback made him one of the most special talents to enter the NFL in a long time. However, Hunter, while being used mostly as a WR, didn't make nearly the impact most expected before a knee injury ended his season after only seven games.

Now healthy, Hunter's main priority will be cornerback this season, while still occasionally seeing time on offense. If he even comes close to reaching his potential, Hunter can take the Jaguars to a different level this year.

Apparently, that wouldn't be enough to win the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year award.

Grant Gordon of NFL.com named his top 10 contenders to win CPOY this season, and Hunter wasn't on the list.

Gordon's list of contenders has several of the names you'd expect, with one or two newbies who wouldn't have even been in consideration a few weeks ago.

His top 10, in order, are Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Donald, Daniel Jones, Kyler Murray, Jayden Daniels, Micah Parsons, Michael Penix Jr., Geno Smith, Odell Beckham, and Tank Dell.

For the record, Hunter was among a group of eight "other candidates."

The CPOY award is one of the NFL's major awards. Winning it should be a big moment for any player as a testament to his hard work and dedication.

However, the necessary prerequisites for winning the award are still way too vague for my liking. What, exactly, do you need to "come back" from to win?

Look at Gordon's list. 

Five players are "coming back" from injury (Mahomes, Jones, Daniels, Parsons, and Dell). One player (Smith) is "coming back" from being terrible last season. Two (Murray and Penix Jr.) are "coming back" from a combination of both. 

Then you have Donald, who is "coming back" from retirement to rejoin his former Los Angeles Rams team after they traded for Myles Garrett.

Lastly, there is Beckham, who is "coming back" from not being rostered a season ago.

Even the players returning from injury have significantly different amounts of missed time. Tank Dell hasn't played since suffering a horrific knee injury during Week 16 of the 2024 season. After missing the entire 2025 campaign, Dell has been placed on IR-Return to begin this season by the Houston Texans, ensuring he will miss at least the first four games this year. That is a lot of football to miss.

Compare that to Mahomes, who tore his ACL with three games left to go last season. Mahomes has been fully cleared for weeks and will be on the field for Week 1.

Should missing three games and missing almost a season and a half be viewed equally when up for the CPOY award?

There should be a minimum of games missed due to injury to be eligible for the award.

As for rebounding from a disappointing season? That's great. It's not a comeback.

Donald and Beckham are two of the greatest players of the past decade-plus. Donald is one of the greatest players ever. Their "comebacks" shouldn't be viewed the same as Dell's comeback.

The AP has made a point of giving more weight to players returning from injury, but the names on this list show that the criteria needs more clarification.

With the criteria for winning the award so vast, it's hard to believe that Hunter was excluded from the top 10. He missed over half of the season with a serious knee injury, and his workload as a two-way player is unmatched by anyone else in the league.

If he returns to the Jaguars this season and makes a significant impact on both sides of the ball, he should be considered a frontrunner for the award.

If Hunter becomes a dominant force either on defense, offense, or both, his comeback from injury could be the consequential of anyone in the league.

Everyone expects Mahomes and Donald to pick up where they left off as all-time great players.

If Mahomes and Donald return to their previous form, how can that be measured against Dell's return from a catastrophic injury that threatened to end his career? Even if Dell's return doesn't lead to as much on-field production as Mahomes' or Donald's, won't just being able to play again be a more impressive comeback?

No comeback this season will be the result of more hard work and dedication than Dell's.

None may have as big an impact on his team and potentially the playoff race as Hunter's. Parsons is the only one whose return may be more impactful than Hunter's.