Remember when the NFL Pro Bowl used to mean something? When calling a player a three-time Pro Bowler used to carry weight? When making an All-Pro team was a genuine badge of honor? Those accolades once defined careers, shaped contract negotiations and even helped build Hall of Fame cases.
But that weight is slipping. From fan backlash to voters speaking out, NFL honors like Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections are facing a crisis of credibility.
How Pro Bowl honors became meaningless
Every year, there are at least a dozen players who opt out of the Pro Bowl weekend, and their replacements receive the same “Pro Bowl” honor on their Pro Football Reference page.
There are plenty of egregious alternatives and replacements that could be named, but none is worse than Tyler Huntley, the former backup quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens, who started four games during the 2022 season. Baltimore went 2-2 that season with Huntley under center, throwing two touchdowns and three total interceptions.
The top three AFC quarterbacks for the Pro Bowl that season were Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow and Josh Allen. Those were the three most deserving quarterbacks, but with the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals playing in the AFC Championship Game, Mahomes and Burrow opted out of the weekend. So did Allen and several other quarterbacks nursing injuries. That list included Tua Tagovailoa, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, Russell Wilson and Ryan Tannehill.
There were several other quarterbacks from the AFC who opted out of the Pro Bowl games that season who weren’t dealing with injuries, and that left Huntley as one of the three starters, along with Derek Carr and Trevor Lawrence.
Why is this a big deal? Because Pro Football Reference and the Hall of Fame don’t keep track or count Pro Bowl alternates or replacements differently from players who were voted initially onto the team. Which means that Patrick Mahomes’ Pro Bowl honor carries just as much weight as Tyler Huntley’s. And therein lies the problem. It dilutes the significance of a Pro Bowl player.
Inflated Pro Bowl honors are distorting NFL legacies
Without accurate Pro Bowl numbers, it becomes very hard to judge players historically, especially older players. Derek Carr is a four-time Pro Bowl quarterback, but he’s never received a single All-Pro vote in his career, and you can make a strong argument that he’s never been a top-five quarterback in the league at any point of his career.
Matthew Stafford is another interesting case. He’s a two-time Pro Bowler, but he’s never made the initial team. Both of his selections to the Pro Bowl (2014, 2023) have come after multiple quarterbacks from the NFC opted out of the games. Without those opt-outs, Stafford never would have earned a single Pro Bowl honor.
We’ve known that the Pro Bowl has been broken for some time, and its reverence around league circles has taken a massive hit. And that’s why so many have pivoted to All-Pro selections to accurately assess players and their seasons.
The All-Pro committee is made up of 50 Associated Press writers, podcasters and TV personalities. And while there are always a few disagreements among the group when it comes to naming the best players in a given year, they generally do a good job of separating the top players from the pack. But something strange has happened over the past few years that needs to be addressed.
All-Pro voting has its own flaws, and it's hurting NFL legacy conversations
Prior to the 2022 season, the 50 All-Pro voters only voted on one team: First-Team All-Pro. Once the consensus was taken from those 50 voters, the remaining players who did not receive enough votes would get an honorary “second team” nomination. But again, the voters did not actually vote on a second team. That is important to keep in mind.
Cole Beasley received one total All-Pro vote during the 2020 season after posting 82 catches for 967 yards and four touchdowns with the Bills. It was a career year for Beasley, and his play from the slot was admirable. Beasley finished 23rd in receiving yards that season, which again is a nice season for most NFL receivers. But was it really an All-Pro season?
Another example would be Demarcus Lawrence, who received a few All-Pro votes during the 2017 season. Lawrence was a very good player that season and deserved his Pro Bowl honors, but would you call him an All-Pro pass rusher after just one career second-team All-Pro? I think most Cowboys fans would say no.
But according to Pro Football Reference, both Beasley and Lawrence are considered All-Pro players despite never making a first-team AP team. Because both players received a few votes in the All-Pro voting, they are technically "All-Pros."
Hall of Fame voters are no longer trusting these honors
Speaking with several current and former Hall of Fame voters, second-team All-Pro honors “aren’t considered” when discussing their Hall of Fame credentials. And a player who earns a first-team All-Pro selection and two other second-team All-Pro selections isn’t considered a 3-time All-Pro player. At least not in the eyes of the Pro Football Researchers Association.
"So, if someone calls Player X a three-time All-Pro when two of those are second-team, we will call you out on it," says Joe Turney, co-chair of the awards committee. "No one would consider the MVP and the runner-up to the MVP as the same, would they? Then how on earth is the first-team All-Pro/NFL/AFL/AAFC/America and the second-team the same. Similar? Sure. Almost as worthy? Yes. The same? No."
It’s worth mentioning that the AP changed their voting process during the 2022 season and now all 50 members vote on a second-team for the All-Pro. That has eliminated some one-off players from making the second team (like Cole Beasley) and does give us a more accurate description of who the best players were in the league in a given season.
However, calling a player an All-Pro when they have only earned a single second-team All-Pro honor, like Terry McLaurin did in 2024, doesn’t sit quite right. There is no doubt that he is an incredible player and deserving of more national attention, but calling him an All-Pro receiver cheapens the honor.
Why this matters for NFL fans and future generations
And that’s the point of this entire debate. The Pro Bowl and the All-Pro selections are two of the most valuable tools we have to judge players against one another from different eras.
But allowing more players to receive those awards has cheapened their value and limited their importance. The honors are broken, and there is no foreseeable fix in sight. And that should be a sad fact for people who enjoy discussing and debating NFL history.