Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Ravens, Seattle Seahawks lead Pro Bowl selections
The Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Ravens and Seattle Seahawks each had a league-high seven players selected to the 2021 Pro Bowl.
Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers were designated as the starting quarterbacks for their respective conferences. Each is a strong contender for league MVP; Mahomes leads the NFL in passing yards with 4,462, and Rodgers is tops in touchdowns with 40.
Mahomes is joined in the AFC by quarterbacks Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills and Deshaun Watson of the Houston Texans. For the NFC, it’s Rodgers, Seattle’s Russell Wilson and Arizona’s Kyler Murray.
There will be no Pro Bowl game this season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, players will be celebrated on Jan. 31 during two Pro Bowl-themed shows airing on an ESPN/ABC simulcast, with a virtual Pro Bowl experience within the Madden NFL 21 video game.
Roster selections were determined by votes of players, coaches and fans.
The Chiefs’ Pro Bowlers include defensive end Frank Clark, offensive tackle Eric Fisher, receiver Tyreek Hill, defensive tackle Chris Jones, tight end Travis Kelce and strong safety Tyrann Mathieu.
Baltimore has offensive tackle Orlando Brown, defensive tackle Calais Campbell, long-snapper Morgan Cox, cornerback Marlon Humphrey, linebacker Matthew Judon, fullback Patrick Ricard and kicker Justin Tucker.
“After everything that this year has been like, it’s a real blessing to be back in this position again. To still be playing football — and at a high level — and to be voted in by my peers and coaches, it really means a lot. This is an honor I really appreciate as a player,” Brown said.
For Green Bay, the other six representatives are receiver Davante Adams, cornerback Jaire Alexander, offensive tackle David Bakhtiari, guard Elgton Jenkins, running back Aaron Jones and linebacker Za’Darius Smith.
Seattle has strong safety Jamal Adams, special-teamer Nick Bellore, free safety Quandre Diggs, receiver DK Metcalf, long-snapper Tyler Ott and linebacker Bobby Wagner.
Other notable selections include Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry, the NFL’s leading rusher, and highly productive receivers Keenan Allen of the Los Angeles Chargers and Stefon Diggs of the Bills for the AFC’s offense. On defense, linebackers T.J. Watt of Pittsburgh and Darius Leonard of Indianapolis, Miami Dolphins ball-hawking cornerback Xavien Howard and Cleveland Browns end Myles Garrett made the squad.
Denver Broncos outside linebacker Bradley Chubb cried during a Zoom call after being selected as a Pro Bowl starter as he reflected on his journey back from a torn ACL that sidelined him for most of 2019.
“Just to get the accolade is huge,” Chubb said. “I’m sorry for getting emotional, I just went through a lot this year. But this sure feels good.”
Chubb ranks fourth in the NFL with 7½ sacks and has 19 QB hits, nine tackles for loss and a forced fumble after missing 12 games last year and tweaking his surgically repaired knee during a stadium scrimmage last summer.
For the NFC, such standouts as Arizona wideout DeAndre Hopkins, Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook, New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara and Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce made it, as did New Orleans defensive end Cameron Jordan, Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald, San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner, Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey and Arizona strong safety Budda Baker.
Washington rookie defensive end Chase Young made the NFC squad, along with another 2020 first-round draft pick, Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson.
Saints defensive end Trey Hendrickson was left off the NFC team despite being tied for the league lead in sacks, with 12.5.
In all, there were 26 first-time Pro Bowlers.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Dallas Cowboys were among five teams without a Pro Bowl player, the others being the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets, Cincinnati Bengals and Carolina Panthers.
This is only the third time in their history that the Cowboys don’t have at least one Pro Bowl representative. The other times were 1986 and 1989. From 2010 through 2019, the Cowboys had 24 Pro Bowl selections, behind only that of the Chiefs and Ravens.
ESPN’s Todd Archer and The Associated Press contributed to this report.