In the NFC, the placement of Kyler Murray on the Pro Bowl roster, to the exclusion of Matthew Stafford, raised eyebrows. (It also could give Stafford a little extra chip on the shoulder in the final weeks of the season.)
In the AFC, the trio of quarterbacks contains a pair of different surprises.
First, second-year Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert landed as the starter. That shows that the voters get it, that they can look past the won-loss record to the player. Indeed, Herbert was the leading vote-getter among all AFC quarterbacks, as to the fan-driven process. With players counting for one third of the vote and coaches counting for one third of the vote, the fact that Herbert landed in that spot shows that widespread respect and admiration exists within the league for Herbert’s skills and abilities.
Second, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson made the team over Bills quarterback Josh Allen. Jackson hasn’t been as effective this year as he’d been in the past. Although some would say Allen regressed, the reality is that the offense around him has taken a step backward, forcing him to try to do more with less.
Like Stafford, Allen could use the snub as motivation. Especially with a key game looming against the Patriots. While the Pro Bowl rosters don’t mean very much beyond the incentive and escalators they trigger in contracts, if a snub sufficiently pisses a guy off, that’s useful in late December.
Finally, at a time when the Rams remain the dominant team in L.A. and hope to stay that way, it’s odd that their quarterback didn’t make the NFC Pro Bowl roster at all and that the “B” team’s QB is the “A” list starter for the AFC. Maybe it’s a sign of things to come, with the secondary tenants at SoFi Stadium possibly a few years away from becoming the dominant occupants.
AFC Pro Bowl quarterbacks include a surprising starter and an obvious snub originally appeared on Pro Football Talk