ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Pro Bowl formula is no secret.
Win, and you’re more likely to have a slew of players featured.
The one-loss Eagles had eight members of their team selected to the 2023 Pro Bowl Games, and the Chiefs (11-3) and Cowboys (10-4) each had seven players make the list.
The aforementioned teams may have been spurred to those records in part because of their talented rosters, but it’s unlikely they’d receive the same amount of Pro Bowlers if they sat closer to — or below — .500 for the season.
An elite performer can bypass a team’s difficulties, as Pat Surtain II showed in becoming Denver’s first Pro Bowler since 2020. Largely, though, individual accomplishments are a byproduct of team success.
So while Head Coach Nathaniel Hackett believes there are many players who are deserving of Pro Bowl consideration, he recognized Thursday that Denver must first find more on-field success as a group.
“I’m biased,” Hackett said. “I think everybody should be considered [for] that, but we’ve got to win more games so that more discussion can happen there. There’s so many guys who have done such a great job for us. We’ve just got to win some more football games first.”
Safety Justin Simmons nearly joined Surtain in the Pro Bowl despite the lack of wins and missing five games this season. Just one free safety was chosen from each conference, though, which left Simmons on the outside of the league’s all-star game. Simmons also suffered from the timing of the vote, as his recent two-interception game came a couple of days after Pro Bowl voting ended.
“[I’m] obviously disappointed, right?” Simmons said. “One of my goals was to be a starter, but I think with putting things in perspective, missing five games this year — the four on IR and then obviously missed the Titans game after the bye — it was disappointing, but at the same time, missing five games and still being able to be up there in the conversation is still special. I think it’s really cool, just a…
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