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The NFL officially released the roster for the Pro Bowl on Thursday night, and one of the biggest surprises was that the player who received the most fan votes got left out.
That player is Tua Tagovailoa, and even though he was the ONLY player in the NFL to receive more than 300,000 votes for the Pro Bowl, he didn’t end up cracking the roster of AFC quarterbacks, which includes Josh Allen, Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes. The fan vote only counts for one-third of the decision-making process, which means since Tua didn’t make it, it’s because coaches and players didn’t vote him in.
The good news for Tua is that he is the first alternate for the Pro Bowl, which means if Allen, Burrow or Mahomes end up in the Super Bowl, Tua will get the first option to take their place, so there is a chance he could end up in the Pro Bowl anyway. Also, since he’s trying to get his team to the Super Bowl, he probably doesn’t care too much about the fact that he got snubbed.
There will be 88 players in Las Vegas for this year’s Pro Bowl. The AFC and NFC rosters were decided with input from fans, players and coaches, with each group counting one-third toward the vote.
Here are a few nuggets about this year’s Pro Bowl rosters:
- Only two teams got shut out. There were 30 teams that had at least one Pro Bowl player, which means there were two teams that had zero players: the Bears and Jaguars. On Chicago’s end, the most viable Pro Bowl option was probably Justin Fields, but he lost out to Kirk Cousins, Jalen Hurts and Geno Smith, who made the roster as the three NFC quarterbacks. As for Jacksonville, you probably could have made a case for Foyesade Oluokun, who currently leads the NFL in tackles with 156 in a season where no other player even has 150 right now.
- Eagles have most Pro Bowlers. In news that probably won’t surprise anyone, the team with the best record also happens to have the most Pro Bowlers. The Eagles had eight players named to the initial roster, which is one ahead of the Cowboys and Chiefs, who both have seven players. Not to be outdone, the Ravens and 49ers both had six players named to the Pro Bowl.
- Seventh heaven. Although Tua didn’t get in, Tyreek Hill did, marking the seventh consecutive season that Hill has made the Pro Bowl. That makes Hill and A.J. Green the only two receivers in NFL history to start their career with seven consecutive Pro Bowl nods. On the defensive side, Aaron Donald got voted in for the ninth straight time, which is the third-most ever for a defensive linemen, trailing only Reggie White (13) and Bruce Smith (11).
- Brotherly love. Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce both cracked the Pro Bowl roster, which means they’ve now combined for 14 career Pro Bowls. That’s the third-most in NFL history for a pair of brothers, trailing only the Mannings (Peyton and Eli) and the Matthews (Bruce and Clay), who both combined for 18 Pro Bowl nods.
- Rare rookie party. The AFC and NFC both have one rookie at cornerback, marking just the second time in Pro Bowl history that two rookie corners have made a Pro Bowl in the same year. The Jets‘ Sauce Gardner and the Seahawks’ Tariq Woolen will join Ronnie Lott (49ers) and Everson Walls (Cowboys), who both played in the Pro Bowl following the 1981 season.
- Geno waits a decade. The Seahawks QB got named to the Pro Bowl this year, which means he had to wait until his 10th season to get his first Pro Bowl nod. Smith is the first QB since Rich Gannon in 1999 to earn his first Pro Bowl selection after spending at least 10 seasons in the NFL.
If you want to see the full roster for each conference, then be sure to click here.
The Pro Bowl is undergoing a major change this year. Instead of a standard NFL game, the rebranded Pro Bowl Games will be a week-long celebration that will include multiple events. In the week leading up to the game, players will participate in multiple skills competitions. The week in Las Vegas will conclude Feb. 5 with a flag football game between the AFC and NFC that will be coached by Peyton and Eli Manning
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