Four teams — the Giants, Jaguars, Titans and Vikings — didn’t have any players initially selected to the Pro Bowl on Tuesday night.
Overall, 22-of-32 teams had multiple Pro Bowlers named to the roster, announced this evening by the NFL.
Six clubs — the Jets, Raiders, Chargers, Bears, Buccaneers and Washington — had one Pro Bowler.
The clubs without Pro Bowlers all had candidates with all-star credentials. Giants rookie receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has been one of the game’s top playmakers in the second half of the season. However, he missed the first four games because of injury, which probably hurt his cause. As it stands, Beckham (79 catches, 1,120 yards, 11 TDs) is a first alternate.
There are also Pro Bowl cases for Vikings free safety Harrison Smith (89 tackles, five interceptions), Jaguars defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks (42 tackles, 8.5 sacks; selected as alternate) and Titans tight end Delanie Walker (56 catches, 847 yards, four TDs).
The Pro Bowl rosters are subject to change, with injury-related defections a certainty. The Super Bowl entrants wouldn’t send any players to the game, either.
Nevertheless, it’s hard to spin a lack of initial Pro Bowlers as a positive. For the record, it’s the second consecutive year the Giants and Jaguars didn’t have a single representative among the first 86 players voted to the game. The NFL changed the format of the Pro Bowl in 2013, with captain-selected teams replacing the AFC and NFC all-star squads.