The NFL Pro Bowl has lost its prestige

This Monday the NFL’s all-star game, the Pro Bowl, is set to take place in Honolulu.

By definition, an “all-star game” is meant to pit the best of the best against each other in a showcase match-up. That won’t be the case on Sunday in Hawaii.

Of the eighty-six players initially chosen to represent their teams, a total of thirty-six have turned down a chance to play. Fourteen of those no-shows have the legitimate honour of having to prepare to play in Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara next week.

As for the other twenty-two, injury and tired bodies dominate the list of reasons for dropping out, and it’s having an impact on the prestige of the event.

One has to look no further than the league’s most high-profile position to see the impact. Of the six quarterbacks selected five have declined, with only Cam Newton doing so because of the Super Bowl and Russell Wilson the only player accepting the invitation.

The replacement quarterbacks will be two-time Super Bowl champion Eli Manning, second-year starters Derek Carr and Teddy Bridgewater, rookie Jameis Winston, and the relatively inexperienced Tyrod Taylor. That list might well prove to be the who’s who of NFL quarterbacks in the 2018 Pro Bowl, but for now it’s a little underwhelming.

The problem is that football is far too dangerous a sport, and no one wants to risk injury in an exhibition game. While people will complain about the stars not showing up, it’s hard to blame the likes of Tom Brady (aged 38), Carson Palmer (36), Ben Roethlisberger (33), and Aaron Rodgers (32) for not wanting to play in another game. Especially when they have all just suffered heartbreaking playoff losses and all have their fair share of injury worries.

The list of declines extends much further than the quarterback position. Other big names that have decided to miss out include reigning defensive player of the year, JJ Watt, Seattle safeties Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas, and superstar pass-catchers Rob Gronkowski and Calvin Johnson. All of whom decided it was either not worth their time or not worth the risk to their already strained bodies to make the trip.

While they sit out other stars, old and new, have accepted the invitation and will suit up in Hawaii. Oakland Raiders defensive end/linebacker Khalil Mack, who burst onto the scene this year with a total of fifteen sacks (second only behind Watt), will make the first of what is expected to be many appearances in his career. He’ll do so lining up one last time with teammate Charles Woodson who, after a first-ballot Hall of Fame career, will be retiring at the final whistle.

Joining those two Raiders will be other big names like running backs Adrian Peterson and Todd Gurley, wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr, DeAndre Hopkins, AJ Green and Julio Jones, and defensive stars like Aaron Donald and Richard Sherman.

Those aren’t names to be scoffed at, as each of them has put an impressive body of work together this season and are stars in their own right. Even some of the replacements, like young receivers Allen Robinson and Amari Cooper, should bring enough flash to entertain the fans.

Yet it’s hard to deny that there’s something wrong with the Pro Bowl, something the NFL all but admitted in 2013. Since 1971 the Pro Bowl had been a contest between players from the league’s two conferences, the AFC and the NFC. It was a format that mirrored the NBA’s East versus West, and baseball’s National league versus American league All Star games.

In 2013, with ratings on the decline, the NFL decided to revamp the game into a schoolyard style, two captain system in which two Hall of Fame players (this year Jerry Rice and Michael Irving) each take turns to select players to their line up. It was an attempt to breathe some life into the event, but one that feels more like a gimmick than a game changer.

On top of the changes to the teams, the NFL also decided to move the game from a week after the Super Bowl to a week before the Super Bowl in order to plug the gap between the conference championship games and the league’s marquee event.

It was likely this change more than any other that has caused the drop off in players accepting the invitation, as the extra rest between season’s end and the Pro Bowl can make all the difference for battle-weary bodies.

Despite the dropouts, the replacements should be proud of what they accomplished in order to earn the call-up. Some of them perhaps should have been called up in the first place, and some of them are stars for the future.

However, with this many no shows, the term “Pro Bowler,” which is often used to point out the best of the best, will have lost a little bit of its meaning next season.