The 2021 Pro Bowl won’t take place this year, although it always made sense to announce the team anyway given the various financial commitments and contract incentives associated with the league’s annual All-Star festivities. This game carries a tremendous weight, no matter how cynical we all have become regarding the actual quality of the game. Maybe one day we’ll be able to streamline the voting process so that it becomes less of a popularity and recognition contest and more about which players dominate the field and wear their respective teams.
I covered a handful of Pro Bowls when I worked for the NFL and it always struck me how important it was from a player’s perspective. When you’re on location surrounded by your peers and their families, there’s something regal about the whole thing. An acknowledgment you have arrived. A time to let off steam while planning the next phase of a fast-paced career.
Unfortunately, like everything else, those things are going to have to happen pretty much this year. I can promise you this: I will never take a Pro Bowl for granted again. I’m sure any player who made a handful of it can probably say the same thing. If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that life in the football universe was pretty good.
Below are some thoughts, comments and musings on the rosters for 2021. Since the selection will not be as fluid as it has been in recent years, there is not much chance for voters to save themselves from retroactively a batch of earned players to places occupied by injured starters or guys who are. in the Super Bowl.
Ryan Tannehill (left), Justin Jefferson (center) and Trey Hendrickson (right) have all had Pro Bowl seasons, but not all made the cut.
Christopher Hanewinckel / USA TODAY Sports (Tannehill); Brad Rempel / USA TODAY Sports (Jefferson); Derick E. Hingle / USA TODAY Sports (Hendrickson)
• My first comment: no love for Ryan Tannehill. I think we may still be adjusting to the idea that Dolphins’ former first round isn’t just a fun comeback story. He is a legit, elite quarterback who is among the top players in the league in some of the best all-encompassing statistics in the sport. Tannehill is fourth in overall QBR and third in defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement. Even if you don’t care about those things, he’s fifth in touchdown passes with just five interceptions. This is another remarkably efficient season for Tannehill and while the AFC quarterback troika is hard to crack (they went with Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Deshaun Watson), you could easily make an argument for his inclusion (maybe about the quarterback too plays in Tannehill’s team leading division).
• Also in the blunt category: although I am more than happy with the honor of being right and calling on Evan Engram to make his first Pro Bowl this season (along with several receiving touchdown and a catch rate of 56.8% came inside about a field that is, yes, statistically disappointing with some of the heavy hitters injured, but still talented. My friend on NFL.com, Nick Shook, has nominated Robert Tonyan of Green Bay, who this season 10 touchdown receptions Irv Smith of the Vikings, Dallas Goedert of the Eagles and even George Kittle on a limited body of work deserve some recognition there.
• James Robinson, the striking undeveloped free-agent rookie in Jacksonville, is also one of those players who – in a normal year – you can imagine jumping on a squad if someone else chose post-season medical work or for rehabilitation of injuries from playing in the game. Robinson is third in the NFL in rush, ahead of both Nick Chubb and Josh Jacobs, who both made it to the game. His first-down rush percentage is also higher than Derek Henry or Chubb’s (we’re not saying Henry didn’t deserve it, calm down).
• Jet Safety Marcus Maye and Bengal’s Safety Jessie Bates were also in a difficult position and in a packed class. Tyrann Mathieu was never there not will come in when the Chiefs’ defense plays so well. So much of that system works because of its diversity. That said, as we saw against the Rams on Sunday, Maye is doing some clinical work in the midst of a beleaguered defensive backfield. This is its third year in a row allowing for an opposite QB completion rate of less than 60%. This season, he’s also kept a rating of the top 70 passers-by opponents in his career for plays where he’s targeted, which is great. Bates, meanwhile, has a 55 opposite passer rating and 55.3% against QB completion rate.
Falcons receiver Calvin Ridley is sixth in the NFL in touchdowns, sixth in yards, and seventh in Football Outsiders’ Effective Yards. All this with, in principle, the league average in separation per route. This offense did Ridley no good and he only had Julio Jones who got cover for about half the season.
• Trey Hendrickson of the Saints is second in the league with 12.5 sacks, behind only Yannick Ngakoue (and level with Aaron Donald!). For example, teammate Cam Jordan reaches the Pro Bowl instead of just recognizing who is helping to create those opportunities? (Jordan has 6.5 bags.) Or is it just a huge mistake on the part of the voters? Hendrickson has more pressure and as many QB knockdowns and rush as Jordan.
• It’s hard not to feel for Garrett Bolles in Denver, who may have been one of the couple’s biggest dislikes. Say what you want about rating services, but Pro Football Focus has Bolles as their # 3 tackle of the year, ahead of quite a lofty company like Andrew Whitworth, Duane Brown and more. He has not given up a pocket in 2020, which is the best ratio of pass snaps and pockets allowed in the NFL. More so, the NFL world in general was poised to take the former first round out of Denver. This would have been a nice – and rightly so – acknowledgment of how far he has come.
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• Good for Dave Gettleman and James Bradberry. It’s important to admit you’re wrong and with Gettleman many of us satirized its off-season when in actuality it was purposeful and fairly slamming. James Bradberry was one of the best cornerbacks in football this year. It’s interesting to see that his total number of goals per season is decreasing as the rest of the NFL realizes he’s not the person you want to throw the ball at. Still, more than 80 goals have allowed Bradberry a formidable 60% completion rate and an opposing QB score of 77.2. You may also want to argue for Logan Ryan, Leonard Williams, and Dexter Lawrence as potential alternates in a normal year.
• Justin Jefferson making a Pro Bowl in his debut season takes the sting out of the Stefon Diggs nomination a bit for Vikings fans (and the front office). I think Rick Spielman can rest assured knowing he did the right thing for the franchise by using the first-rounder they netted from the Bills trade to draft a one-on-one substitute that just Diggs follows with a few receiving yards, is finishing him by two touchdowns, has a higher first-down percentage and three more explosive plays. Diggs, however, has a slightly better (and so far high career rate) catch rate.
• I still think Orlando Brown, Jr. is a great story. Brown, you’ll remember, was crushed for his less-than-ideal combine performance in 2018, slipped into round three, and has now made two straight Pro Bowls in 2019 and 2020. Ozzie Newsome, it seems, has never left this front five without a long-term anchor, and while you could argue for Ronnie Stanley to play in this game too if he weren’t injured, Brown is a nice nod to the idea that you don’t have to be defined by a pointless televised agility competition.
• Vic Fangio sent a pair of Pro Bowlers to Justin Simmons and Bradley Chubb this year. It’s interesting to follow Fangio’s path as a defense coordinator and see how All-Stars seem to sprout like weeds. If this team can get any semblance of momentum during an attack, this seems like a tick in the column to keep Fangio for another year and watch this defense grow into something special.