No Bowl? Zero Rams Among Early All-Star Voting
A Super Bowl defense has proven to be too much for the Los Angeles Rams. But even the mere defense of their symbolic spots in the Pro Bowl is getting away from them in this lost season.
The NFL released the latest vote tallies for the upcoming Pro Bowl Games, which will be held in lieu of a traditional all-star game for the first in Las Vegas this February. While the NFC West is well-represented, as the leaders from San Francisco and Seattle have three men each, no Rams appear on the leaderboard accumulated by fan voting. Los Angeles would've had four in last year's Vegas-based game (Aaron Donald, Matt Gay, Cooper Kupp, and Jalen Ramsey) had they not been competing in Super Bowl LVI a week later.
Fans' rejection of the Rams (3-8) is the latest official sign of a title defense gone haywire. It's little surprise to see voters spurn the team at the ballot box, as only two representatives come from teams with a losing record. One of them is, perhaps in a case of macabre irony, a former Ram, as Carolina's Johnny Hekker accounts for one-half of the doomed pair alongside Chicago safety Eddie Jackson.
Of the Rams' recent all-star reps, Kupp is done for the season and Donald could join him next as the team's injury list reaches lengthier proportions. Gay and Ramsey might be able to earn invites as reserves or injury replacements, but that, of course, is far from Los Angeles' biggest issue as they attempt to salvage what's left out of a brutal season that won't even come with the comfort of a high opening draft pick next spring.
Minnesota receiver Justin Jefferson is the leading candidate thus far, pulling in 90,313 votes for the NFL's revamped all-star proceedings after years of declining quality of the traditional game. This will mark the first edition of the newly-branded Pro Bowl Games, which will feature a series of skills competitions during the week before Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, culminating in a flag football game at its conclusion.
The star-less Rams return to action on Sunday afternoon, welcoming in listed representatives Jordyn Brooks, Geno Smith, and Tariq Woolen's Seattle Seahawks (1:05 p.m. PT, Fox).
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