Last year, Chris Johnson was generally recognized as the best running back in football. This year, Pro Bowl voters didn’t even select Johnson as one of the three best running backs in the AFC.
Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew is the AFC’s Pro Bowl starter at running back, with Houston’s Arian Foster and Kansas City’s Jamaal Charles backing him up. Johnson is an alternate, and he’s not happy about that.
“I think it’s bogus,” Johnson said, per Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean. “I figured I should be a lock. I am top three in the league. . . . I didn’t think there was a way I wouldn’t get in. It was disappointing. I was surprised. But there’s not much I can do about it.”
Johnson is right that he’s Top 3 in the league in rushing yards, behind Foster and Charles and ahead of Jones-Drew by one yard. But Johnson is wrong in thinking he’s had a better year, overall, than the three running backs who were chosen ahead of him.
Johnson breaks more long runs than anyone, but he’s too inconsistent: He gets stuffed at or behind the line of scrimmage too often, and he’s been a non-factor in too many games.
Although I would have preferred Charles as the starter, when it came to selecting the three AFC running backs, the Pro Bowl voters got it right. It’s Johnson’s assessment that’s bogus.