Vikings' Justin Jefferson, Dalvin Cook, and Harrison Smith Selected to 2022 Pro Bowl
Three Minnesota Vikings — Justin Jefferson, Dalvin Cook, and Harrison Smith — have been selected to the 2022 Pro Bowl, the team announced on Monday night. Fans, coaches, and players each make up a third of the voting process for the showcase game.
This is the second Pro Bowl nod for Jefferson in just his second season, making him the fifth player in Vikings history to earn that honor in each of their first two seasons. Chuck Foreman, Sammy White, Randy Moss, and Adrian Peterson were the previous four to do it.
Jefferson, while wearing a Randy Moss Pro Bowl jersey in Monday Night Football warmups at Soldier Field, found out from Moss himself that he was going back to the game.
There was never any realistic doubt that Jefferson would be in, as he's second in the NFL in receiving yards during a dominant sophomore season.
This is the third straight Pro Bowl nod for Cook, who dealt with significant injuries during his first two seasons in the league but has stayed mostly healthy over the last three while establishing himself as one of the game's elite running backs. Cook led all NFC RBs in fan voting (justifiably, as he leads the NFC in rushing yards as well).
Smith is going to the sixth Pro Bowl of his incredible career. He made it in five straight years from 2015 to 2019 but saw that streak end last season. Smith led all NFC safeties in fan voting.
Several Vikings have cases as snubs. When I wrote about which players deserved to make it, I had Jefferson and Cook as the only locks. On my next tier — players with strong cases — I had Smith, as well as Eric Kendricks and Kene Nwangwu.
Kendricks remains wildly underrated nationally, for whatever reason. He has once again been one of the best linebackers in the league this season, racking up 120 tackles, 5.0 sacks, two interceptions, and a forced fumble in 12 games so far. Nwangwu probably lost the NFC return specialist nod to the Bears' Jakeem Grant because of volume of returns, but he's the only player in the NFL with two return touchdowns this year.
I thought C.J. Ham, Brian O'Neill, and Kirk Cousins all had outside cases to make it, but it's not surprising to see none of them be voted in.
Remember, just because the Vikings only have three Pro Bowlers right now doesn't mean it'll end up that way. There are always injury replacements, Super Bowl replacements, or other players added when invitations are declined for whatever reason.
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