The Pro Bowl’s Dead Husk
Should we just finally mercy kill the Pro Bowl? I’m not even against the Pro Bowl and have been mostly in favor of most of the attempts they’ve made to change it. But none of these changes have gotten me to watch it. I’ll usually just view the highlight clips on social media later. I found out this year the Pro Bowl was on Tuesday night. Why? Was it that way last year? What are we doing?
We had some more Pro Bowl discussion this year because Shedeur Sanders was selected. We’ve known about the flaws in the Pro Bowl selection process for a long time. It’s a popularity contest more than anything. Guys who have big names but down years get selected all the time, and guys with great years but lower profiles get perpetually snubbed. All-Pro selections are the real honor, and the Pro Bowl has become less and less of a badge than ever before. Shedeur Sanders did not deserve the Pro Bowl. He didn’t actually get voted into the Pro Bowl. The Pro Bowl has simply lost so much relevance that a guy who probably got more votes than he should have (due to his rabid fanbase) got in anyway because half the conference pulled out. It’s Snoop Huntley again.
The other two AFC QBs aren’t much better. Joe Burrow at least has the reputation but he missed half the season with a busted toe and wasn’t exactly saving the Bengals when he got back. His injury gap replacement, Joe Flacco, is the other AFC QB. Joe probably didn’t pull out himself because he’s never gone to the Pro Bowl before. Yeah, that surprised me too. I figured he’d have gotten in at least once. This leaves us with the very funny trivia fact that both Ohio teams had 2 Pro Bowl QBs on their roster in 2025. Both of these teams missed the playoffs by a wide margin and none of the 3 QBs played close to a full season. What a stupid year.
Shedeur feels like an insult to the process but when you look at the list of AFC QBs that deserved it ahead of him…there isn’t even that much to be mad about. Most of them pulled out. Shedeur got votes stacked in his favor due to his stans but the reality is he wouldn’t have sniffed it anyway if the conference QBs were mostly healthy. Who is realistically the other healthy AFC options that deserved it over Shedeur anyway? Stroud? Stroud missed time too, and his honeymoon is over. Fans are turning on him. Tua? Same deal, Tua isn’t anyone’s love anymore and his own stans have bled off. Cam Ward was hurt. Geno Smith? Geno spent the year losing all the goodwill he earned in Seattle. Justin Fields? Justin Fields turned it down! Shedeur’s selection doesn’t seem as bad in context, the context being the Pro Bowl isn’t worth going to anymore. It isn’t an honor once you get your first nod. He probably deserved the Pro Bowl more than Dillion Gabriel did, as sad as that is.
I don’t want to remove what is ultimately just a party for the guys. They look like they have fun there. But the Pro Bowl just feels pointless now. All attempts to reinvent it have failed. It just shambles along like a zombie. Maybe we can keep the Pro Bowl selection vote as a thing, because I like the idea of a fan vote despite the obvious flaws (I do actually vote every year, for at least one guy on the Giants I love. This year I voted for Burns). We can label them Pro Bowlers but not force them to play a game or do the other events. Make the Pro Bowl games open to any player who wants to go, and they can have a party however they wish. Also move it back to Hawaii. Guys liked going to Hawaii.
Allen is on crutches in a boot with a fractured metatarsal, I feel like he would have played.
Shedeur Sanders, Pro Bowl QB makes the whole thing worth it IMO. Because it’s funny.
Put it in Hawaii like you said, and move it back to after the super bowl so players on super bowl teams can go too.
There used to be a TV show over here called Superstars – a pile of sports stars doing various events, from bike races to fitness tests (UK judo legend Brian Jacks was a beast at the latter). It got revived briefly a few years back, bringing in slightly goofier things like golf chipping and stuff.
That feels like what they’ve turned the Pro Bowl into. I don’t hate that – expand what used to be the QB Challenge – and I get the flag football change. But they need to do more with it. The NBA is trying to keep their allstar weekend fresh (mileage varies, but they’re at least having a crack at it).