Two Land in Pro Bowl, Three Snubbed
Jason Kelce is aging like fine wine.
At the age of 34, the Eagles center was selected for his third straight Pro Bowl on Wednesday night and his fifth overall. The team’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award nominee has started 119 straight games. He is only one of 15 players in franchise history with five Pro Bowls.
Joining Kelce on the NFC roster is cornerback Darius Slay.
It is Slay’s fourth Pro Bowl nod, but his first with the Eagles after his first three came as a member of the Detroit Lions.
The team's nominee for the Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award, Slay leads all NFL defensive players with three touchdowns. They came in a four-game span and the Eagles won each of those three games to help them run around a 2-5 start to a 7-7 record.
He has 47 tackles, three interceptions and is the No. 3-ranked CB in coverage this season, per Pro Football Focus. The other three corners are the Rams’ Jalen Ramsey, the Saints’ Marshawn Lattimore, and the Cowboys’ Trevon Diggs.
The Pro Bowl will be played on Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. in Las Vegas.
Named as alternates were quarterback Jalen Hurts, defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, tight end Dallas Goedert, kicker Jake Elliott, linebacker Shaun Bradley, and defensive end Josh Sweat.
While the Eagles landed two in the game, they probably had more snubs.
Three players certainly deserved to get in.
They are:
Hargrave. The defensive tackle has eight sacks, a career-high, and the third most of all defensive tackles in the league behind Aaron Donald (11) and Jonathan Allen (8.5). Donald and Allen made the team, as did Green Bay’s Kenny Clark. Hargrave is also tied for sixth among all defensive tackles with tackles for loss with eight. Clark is not one of those ahead of Hargrave.
Elliott. L.A’s Matt Gay made the team ahead of Elliott, and perhaps his numbers are a tad better. He has only missed one of his 29 field-goal tries and is 4-for-4 from 50-plus yards. Elliott has missed two of his 26 FG attempts and is 3-for-3 from 50-plus. Elliot, however, is perfect on his PAT tries. Gay has missed one.
Lane Johnson. Not sure what happened here. Tyron Smith and Trent Williams probably got in on reputation alone. Tristan Wirfs is the other OT going to the game. Johnson may be having a better season than any of those three. Perhaps his three-game absence while battling anxiety and depression cost him. He made three straight Pro Bowls from 2017-2019 and was first-team All-Pro in 2017.
A case could be made for Jordan Mailata to make the team, but he is still building his resume, though even that could be argued.
At the very least, one if not both should have been named alternates. They were not.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
