Four New England Patriots Named to 2017 Pro Bowl
The NFL announced their 2017 Pro Bowl rosters on Tuesday night, and four New England Patriots were among the league’s elite.
The New England Patriots will hopefully not be in attendance for the 2017 Pro Bowl in Orland, Florida. As a team, they hope to be preparing for Super Bowl LI that week. However, four Patriots have been selected to the Pro Bowl. Quarterback Tom Brady is joined by Dont’a Hightower, Devin McCourty and Matthew Slater.
Tom Brady has been selected for the 11th time, the most among all active players. In all likelihood, Brady wouldn’t attend even if he is not in the Super Bowl. Like many NFL players, TB12 has declined the Pro Bowl invite over the years.
The game simply means nothing. Still though, it must be great to be selected by the fans. It seems like Slater is in the game every season, maybe because it’s the only name most fans recognize among the list of special teamers. That’s not meant to take anything away from Slater’s skills on special teams, he truly is an all star. But, the game has become a popularity vote.
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If the NFL wants Pro Bowl players to show up for the Pro Bowl, they need to change the format. The players want a trip to Hawaii, not Orlando. They want the game to come after the Super Bowl, not before.
They want an incentive to play in the game, and that used to be a free vacation to the Aloha State. In recent years, it has become a glorified game of two hand touch between “hey Tom Brady said no, wanna be the QB for the Pro Bowl,” players. The 2016 game had the most declined invitations of all time, a trend that may continue this season.
The list of declinees last year is astounding: Tom Brady, Cam Newton, Aaron Rodgers, LeSean McCoy, Antonio Brown, Larry Fitzgerald, Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware, Malcolm Butler, Patrick Peterson, etc. To the players, the Pro Bowl selection is nice, but what they desire is the All Pro status. The All Pro players are the true greats in the league each season.
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The 2017 Pro Bowl will be played Sunday January 29th at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida on ESPN. The game will return to it’s AFC-NFC format after a few years of fantasy draft style play.