Now that the Super Bowl matchup between the Seahawks and Patriots has been set, the NFL is hard at work adding alternates to the Pro Bowl rosters. And as usual, there's already controversy after Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders was reportedly named as an AFC alternate.
No offense to Sanders, but he's not exactly the first name most people would think of as a Pro Bowl quarterback. He started seven games this season, going 3-4 while completing just 56.6 percent of his passes and throwing more interceptions (10) than touchdowns (7). His QBR was 18.9. Looking at the AFC QBs is like looking at that meme of a line of soldiers with a random clown standing in the middle.
AFC Pro Bowl quarterbacks
- Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
- Drake May, New England Patriots
- Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers
- Shedeur Sanders, Cleveland Browns [Alternate]
How do Pro Bowl replacements work?
The Pro Bowl rosters are voted on by fans, players and coaches. Each of those segments makes up 33.3 percent of the vote. Players with the highest point totals are named to the Pro Bowl. For quarterbacks, that includes a starter and two reserves.
Sometimes the quarterbacks initially voted to the roster are unavailable to play. Players in the Super Bowl are automatically excused. Injured players don't play. And remember, this is the NFL. Everyone is playing with a knock or two. At the end of the season, a quarterback who managed to play every game could still opt out of the Pro Bowl because of injury concerns.
So the NFL needs replacements, which they lineup via the initial vote tally. Behind the initial four, there is a list of quarterbacks who also received votes. In order, those quarterbacks form a list of alternates. The NFL will offer the fourth quarterback in the vote getting a spot on the Pro Bowl roster, if they decline, the spot goes to QB5 and then QB6 and so on.
The fact that Sanders is on the AFC roster means the line of voting succession got down to his name.
AFC quarterbacks who were eligible for the Pro Bowl
If not Sanders, the who? There were 22 quarterbacks in the AFC who threw at least 100 passes in 2025. Here's how they stack up:
AFC Quarterback | Status | QBR | Yds/Gm | Yds/Att | TD/INT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Drake Maye, Patriots | Super Bowl | 77.1 | 285.5 | 8.9 | 31/8 |
Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs | Injured: OUT | 68.6 | 256.2 | 7.1 | 22/11 |
Josh Allen, Bills | Pro Bowler: Questionable | 65.5 | 215.8 | 8.0 | 25/10 |
Daniel Jones, Colts | Injured: OUT | 63.1 | 238.5 | 8.1 | 19.8 |
Joe Burrow, Bengals | 63.1 | 226,1 | 7.0 | 17/5 | |
Lamar Jackson, Ravens | 62.8 | 196.1 | 8.4 | 21/7 | |
CJ Stroud, Texans | 61.6 | 217.2 | 7.2 | 19/8 | |
Justin Herbert, Chargers | Pro Bowler | 60.7 | 232.9 | 7.3 | 26/13 |
Bo Nix, Broncos | Injured: OUT | 58.4 | 231.4 | 6.4 | 25/11 |
Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars | 58.2 | 235.7 | 7.2 | 29/12 | |
Tyrod Taylor, Jets | Injured: Questionable | 51.0 | 129.8 | 5.8 | 5/5 |
Aaron Rodgers, Steelers | 44.3 | 207.6 | 6.7 | 24/7 | |
Davis Mills, Texans | 43.6 | 152.5 | 5.8 | 5/1 | |
Joe Flacco, Bengals | 41.1 | 190.7 | 6.0 | 15/10 | |
Justin Fields, Jets | Injured: OUT | 38.8 | 139.9 | 6.2 | 7/1 |
Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins | 37.6 | 190.0 | 6.9 | 20/15 | |
Jake Browning, Bengals | 35.3 | 154.2 | 6.2 | 6/8 | |
Geno Smith, Raiders | Injured: Questionable | 34.2 | 201.7 | 6.8 | 19/17 |
Cam Ward, Titans | Injured: Questionable | 33.1 | 186.4 | 5.9 | 15/7 |
Dillon Gabriel, Browns | 31.5 | 93.7 | 5.1 | 7/2 | |
Shedeur Sanders, Browns | 18.9 | 175.0 | 6.6 | 7/10 | |
Brady Cook, Jets | 11.7 | 147.8 | 4.8 | 2/7 |
As you can plainly see, if we're talking about statistical merit, Sanders shouldn't have been anywhere near the Pro Bowl. He was second last among AFC QBs who threw at least 100 passes in 2025 (all active NFL players are eligible to be on the ballot, for the record).
The top four quarterbacks in terms of QBR — Maye, Mahomes, Allen and Jones — were either voted in initially or aren't available to play. But what about Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, CJ Stroud and Trevor Lawrence. Did Sanders really get more votes than they did? Maybe, maybe not.
It's possible better quarterbacks were offered the spot and declined. Burrow has a long and worrisome history of injury concerns. Jackson also has reason to protect his body. And Stroud is coming off a disastrous playoff exit. He might not be up for it.
It's Lawrence that really stands out here. He is a literal MVP finalist. Unless he has an injury we don't know about, it's hard to imagine him turning down a Pro Bowl nod. It would have been his second.
So we can infer Sanders was indeed in front of Lawrence in Pro Bowl voting...which is wild. Of course, it's not the first time an unexpected QB was ahead of Lawrence. His first Pro Bowl in 2023 was as an alternate, but he got in behind Tyler Huntley of the Ravens.
How do quarterbacks like Shedeur Sanders and Tyler Huntley get more votes than established starters?
Back when Huntley got the nod, Pro Football Talk reported an interesting theory proposed by an NFL source: Basically, unexpected Pro Bowl QB picks could be caused by vote manipulation.
No, there isn't ballot box stuffing or anything, it's just how the voting process works. Coaches and players each get to vote for three quarterbacks. PFT's source suggested that players who want to give their quarterback a leg up, might put his name on the ballot with two obscure options, so as not to bolster other obvious candidates.
Let's say a member of the Chargers wanted to make sure Herbert made the Pro Bowl. They could put his name down and purposefully cast votes for Sanders and Dillon Gabriel instead of Maye or Allen. If enough players did that and happened to choose Sanders as their fill-in candidate, he could get enough votes to move up the pecking order. Fan voting also plays into this. Sanders might not have been the best QB in the NFL this year, but he is one of the most polarizing and recognizable.
It's truly the only explanation. No one in their right mind could earnestly vote for Sanders or Huntley as one of the three best quarterbacks in the AFC this year. That would mean voting for Sanders over eight of these 10 QBs: Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, Daniel Jones, Trevor Lawrence, Patrick Mahomes, Drake Maye, Bo Nix and CJ Stroud.
Or maybe a lot of NFL players just really like Sanders, who knows?