Shedeur Sanders Named To Pro Bowl, Officially Ending Event's Relevance
With Drake Maye headed to the Super Bowl and other AFC stars sidelined or uninterested, the Browns rookie lands a Pro Bowl spot as the "honor" keeps losing value.
It's been fairly clear for years that the Pro Bowl (sorry, the "Pro Bowl Games") no longer matters to the NFL or its players. But nothing signals the end of the Pro Bowl like Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders being named to the AFC roster as a replacement.
No, this is not a joke. Sanders, who started seven games for Cleveland and threw more interceptions (10) than touchdown passes (7) while completing just 56% of his passes, is a Pro Bowler.
Sanders isn't the first ridiculous Pro Bowl quarterback selection in recent memory. Recall that Baltimore Ravens backup Tyler Huntley got the nod in 2022 after playing 6 games in place of injured starter Lamar Jackson.
There were extenuating circumstances in both cases, but we'll stick with Sanders in this case because that's the freshest of the insane Pro Bowl selections.
The AFC Simply Ran Out of Available Quarterbacks
None of the three quarterbacks selected to the Pro Bowl in the AFC – Drake Maye, Josh Allen and Justin Herbert – is likely to take part in the event. Maye is headed to the Super Bowl (so he's definitely out) while Allen and Herbert are dealing with injuries (and probably couldn't care less about the Pro Bowl anyway, but they could theoretically still show up).
Browns rookie Shedeur Sanders made the Pro Bowl as a replacement, fueling questions about what the NFL’s All-Star honor still means.
(Scott Galvin/Imagn Images)
That means the AFC needs three new representatives. But they have to find quarterbacks who even want to participate. Patrick Mahomes suffered a torn ACL in December, so he's out. Joe Burrow dealt with injuries all season, so he would seem an unlikely candidate. Lamar Jackson was likewise banged up throughout the season.
Aaron Rodgers and his 42-year-old body would likely be uninterested in the NFL's rapidly declining All-Star showcase. The point we're trying to make is that the Pro Bowl, essentially, just needed a warm body to show up in Orlando this weekend. That's how we got to Shedeur Sanders, and for no other reason.
RELATED: Shedeur Sanders Was Historically Bad In His First NFL Season
But if "warm body" is enough qualification to make the Pro Bowl, what's the point? Calling someone a "6-time Pro Bowl selection" or a "10-time Pro Bowl selection" used to mean something. Now, it doesn't. The only thing that matters is All-Pro selections because those don't come with a requirement to travel to Orlando in February and compete in a meaningless flag football game.
You see, players wanted to go to the Pro Bowl in the past because the league held the game the week after the Super Bowl in Hawaii. NFL players are wealthy, yes, but it's still hard to say "no" to a free trip to Hawaii during the winter. Players would take their families and make a vacation out of it.
But a trip to Orlando? Meh. Most of these guys can get to Florida pretty easily if they want to do so. Additionally, the league moved the Pro Bowl from the week after the Super Bowl to the week before the Super Bowl to increase fan interest. That… didn't really work. And it had a secondary negative effect, since players who competed in either conference championship were not likely to attend. That meant players from the four best teams in the league wouldn't be represented at all.
That doesn't exactly scream "All-Star Game."
The NFL's Pro Bowl (SORRY, "PRO BOWL GAMES") has been a complete joke for years, but if you need more proof, the selection of Shedeur Sanders should be all the information you require.