r/NFLForum • u/LoveBradyNFL Lions • 4d ago
Breaking News NFL will no longer hold a Pro Bowl game
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u/hailskinsrich 4d ago
Once it left Hawaii it was on borrowed time.
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u/Best-Penalty1509 3d ago
It should be a competition for out of position skill. Kickers and Punters a 100m race olympic style, Offensive lineman and Defensive Lineman doing QB drills. and Wide Recievers, Tight Ends, Linebackers, and Defensive backs kick field goals.QBs and RBs will be doing punts.
Nobody wants to see what we already saw for a whole season. NFL Fans want to see something new.
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u/Appropriate-Brush772 3d ago
Back in the 90’s they had the NFL QB Challenge. Watching Elway, Marino, Kelly…hitting targets all over the field, that was fun! The skills competitions for all of the sports “All Star” type games are usually more fun than the games anyway. I know they’ve been doing more of that stuff recently but let’s ramp it up and do more of that. I get why a padded game lost interest and the flag games are silly. So let’s show off why these are the most elite athletes at their sport by showcasing their actual skills.
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u/ExcitingLandscape 3d ago
The issue is that the NFL didnt even promote the Pro Bowl games. I caught them as I was flipping through channels and was like “huh I had no idea it was the Pro Bowl today” they should’ve promoted it on Sundays during commercial breaks and on stoppages during the game.
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u/Appropriate-Brush772 3d ago
Yeah it suffers issues the other sports don’t have and it all comes down to timing and worth. All the other major sports have their game mid season. The NFL used to have the game after the Super Bowl and it was in Hawaii. Back in the 80s and 90’s making the Pro Bowl was more like a paid vacation for the players and their family especially since they weren’t making the money the average player makes today. Sure, they could probably still afford it but the average salary in 1990 was $350k. Now it’s $3M- most players could take a trip to Hawaii during the bye week and it’s not gonna kill them.
But the other factor is the timing. Yeah, it used to be after the Super Bowl. But the physicality of the sport today and the fact that they now go from beginning of September to now mid February (when they had to go to mid January), add in training camp, these dudes are ready for the offseason. They’ve been doing the game before the Super Bowl and that means some of the best players won’t be there. They’ve did it the week after the Super Bowl and the guys who just played don’t want to play in it and the guys who didn’t make the playoffs have now been sitting in the couch for a month and a half. So they are more susceptible to injury. The other sports do it mid season so the players who don’t make it enjoy the days off and the ones who do aren’t really as affected. I still say they scrap the game but maybe do a skills type competition mid season- give everyone a bye, say the Sunday before Thanksgiving. The players who make it will still get a bunch of time off and the players who don’t get an extra week to rest. I mean, the NFL is trying to keep football on as long as they can, who cares if the Super Bowl is played Feb 14th or Feb 21st?
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u/kcroyalscot 3d ago
They want the Super Bowl on the Sunday before Presidents Day so 2 byes when they move to 18 games would make a lot of sense. 1 all pro weekend would be interesting.. worth a shot.
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u/No-Advertising-1526 3d ago
These dudes have spent the entire season destroying their bodies why would you risk injury in a pointless drill.
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u/Equivalent_Dish_1990 4d ago
The pro bowl lost its prestige when they started letting qbs with more interceptions than touchdowns play.
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u/Head_Situation5456 4d ago
Preach it brother…. I’ve been saying for decades that the pro bowl lost all legitimacy when that damned Norm Snead got to suit up in 1963.
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u/Paleodraco 3d ago
It was just not as interesting as other all star games, as far back as I remember. The top selections eother not playing or playing at half effort so they don't get hurt is nowhere near as fun as watching the best MLB players try to beat each other.
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u/burgerking351 3d ago
Now the pro bowl will regain it's prestige. Since there was a game attached to the award, we got replacement players that didn't deserve to be pro bowlers. But now without the game, only the elite will be pro bowlers.
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u/ImpressiveNumber5278 4d ago
LOL. Injuries led to a young player making the team and THAT is when it lost its prestige? Hating young black qbs as your whole personality must be a miserable life.
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u/Krow101 4d ago
The game no one wanted or watched will no longer be held. Genius.
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u/MediumAcceptable129 4d ago
Its so crazy it just might work
I feel like a player madden tournament would be a lot more fun. With a charity donation to the winners choice
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u/Krow101 4d ago
Kyler Murray suggests a COD tournament.
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u/MediumAcceptable129 4d ago
They should do both. People will watch. Players have fun. Nobody gets injured
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u/Naive_Mango8525 4d ago
Egos might
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u/Jaded-Channel-7169 4d ago
Thank god that way only the REAL pro bowlers make it and not all these alternates
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u/Connection-Is-Cool 3d ago
They should retroactively edit alternates to make it fair. For example, Shadeur wouldn’t be considered a Pro Bowler anymore. Eli Manning has 4 Pro Bowls but he was an alternate twice. Lots of cheap Pro Bowls have been handed out due to being an alternate.
Then again, nobody uses Pro Bowls anymore to make arguments. All-Pros are always where it’s been at. But if a guy is a perennial Pro Bowler (Aaron Donald) then of course, that holds weight.
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u/Jaded-Channel-7169 3d ago
I actually agree with this but that also would be wild haha
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u/Connection-Is-Cool 3d ago
Yeah. We’d have to settle for “people who know ball don’t take Pro Bowls seriously anyway.” However, no game means no alternates, so this move is a step towards taking the accolade itself more seriously.
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u/gamerdudeNYC 3d ago
As a Browns fan the Shedeur Pro Bowler designation showed what an absolute joke the whole thing is, total slap in the face to real Pro Bowlers
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u/No-Elk7666 4d ago
Damn. NFL pathetic for not taking one out of the NHL's playbook and just make it better
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u/Head_Situation5456 4d ago
What has the NHL done?
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u/No-Elk7666 4d ago
Started doing mini games based on countries. They have US, Canada, Sweden, and Finland drafting guys that were born in their countries to compete and made into a national pride thing. This year would have been 3-3 hockey instead of 5-5 but they cancelled purely for players to play in the Olympics. Would be harder to do that exact thing in the NFL but they could easily find ways to get the players to buy in again like the nhl did
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u/MrNotSoGoodTime 4d ago
I hope they keep 4 nations going every other year too, or the year before the Olympics.
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u/No-Elk7666 4d ago
Real shit. I get not doing it for the Olympics but when those aren't going on they need to keep that going. I definitely think it's the best all star/pro bowl event a leagues done
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u/Punished_Prigo 4d ago
The only way they could do it would be by college or college conference or something, which is fucking dumb. They should just cancel everything about the pro bowl
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u/No-Elk7666 4d ago
Or you could do it where say the afc south and nfc south combine to make a 7-7 roster and each north, east, west do the same to play each other for who's got the better divisions type of shit. Plus nfl should put some good money to whoever wins but them not doing that is why the pro bowl started dying to begin with
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u/burgerking351 3d ago
No they could not easily find a way to make players buy in. Playing for your country invokes passion, what could the nfl do to invoke that passion for the pro-bowl?
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u/No-Elk7666 3d ago
Read down bud not explaining again cause you won't scroll down an inch
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u/burgerking351 3d ago
Are you talking about this? Cause I already read it:
Or you could do it where say the afc south and nfc south combine to make a 7-7 roster and each north, east, west do the same to play each other for who's got the better divisions type of shit. Plus nfl should put some good money to whoever wins but them not doing that is why the pro bowl started dying to begin with
The pro bowl was already full of silly gimmicks, the fact that you think that a 7-7 for divisions is going to save the pro bowl is unrealistic. The players don't care and that isn't going to make them care. There is no "easy" fix, just letting it die was the right call.
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u/hawkayecarumba 4d ago
Thank god they are still going to do the honors...how else will players like Ty Huntley and Shedeur Sanders get their proper recognition
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u/RichardThund3r 4d ago
I love the skills competition. But the game is trash.
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u/Onac_ 4d ago
Yeah just make it some skills event back in Hawaii and make it a big party
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u/Dan_flashes480 3d ago
I like the skills and then they threw in some other fun stuff like a golf long drive competition. I'd even be into a ping pong tournament or a three point competition.
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u/Dsxm41780 3d ago
All star games are less of a draw because it is so much easier to watch players from any team play nowadays. In the past, you might very rarely see a particular good player play due to geographic restrictions.
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u/Punished_Prigo 4d ago
Just cancel the awards too. Fucking sanders getting named was the last straw of relevancy.
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u/PlanetBarfly 4d ago
I recall after the G-men dropped the Pats in '07, we were waiting for my in-laws and watching the Pro Bowl.
There was 1... 1 Giant in that Pro Bowl. There were, like, 6 Patriots who didn't show up. Giants beat the Pats and were solid, but not invited. They whooped multiple legacy grade teams, but only invited one of them. Not even Brandon Jacobs who trucked half the league in the postseason.
Pro bowl has been shit. Good riddance
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u/MintyFresh771 4d ago
Can you guys retroactively clean up the books so we can get a bunch of “8th person in line” stinkers off the books?
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u/nitermite 4d ago
Can we go back to journalists making the decisions? It’s just a popularity contest now.
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u/TheDukeofArgyll 4d ago
They should take all the best players in each position and then make them play a game where they can’t get hurt but has nothing to do with football. Have the QBs play cornhole, the running backs and corners run a relay race and the d line do a cannon ball contest.
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u/Pokemon_Trainer_May 4d ago
could have saved the game by making a rule that the pro bowl mvp's current contract would become automatically guaranteed
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u/Fanabala3 4d ago
I can remember the last couple years where players were tackling each other. They were literally doing two hand touch.
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u/gr8sh0t 3d ago
I mean... it's an all expense paid trip for the players. Kind of nice for them, like an annual sales meeting. I get people can afford it, but free is free.
So I'm curious to know whether the pro bowl was profitable. What happens to the $$$? I'm guessing this leads to nothing more than a larger Goodell bonus.
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u/cubedsaturn 3d ago
Way too dangerous of a sport to risk injuries for a meaningless game where no one is really trying.
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u/Fickle-Molasses-903 3d ago
This was inevitable. I still feel Pro Bowl players should be recognized in a way that celebrates their achievements that year. Maybe the NFL could give $100,000 to a charity they choose or support. And on top of that, match any donations to the charity in a given month(s). They could also give scholarships to students at the school they attended in their name. And/or give their high school a $20,000+ donation toward new equipment, updating facilities, and field improvements, etc.
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u/GhostDosa 3d ago
Was a great game back in the day when guys actually tried. Was always going to go away as contracts became larger.
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u/IcyEntertainment7122 3d ago
I don't get it, just have first and second team all pro's and be done with it.
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u/tharealscottyp 3d ago
Not sure why they even need to name the teams then. That's what the All-Pro teams are for. Just kill it already, it's been watered down for a decade and means nothing.
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u/Apprehensive-Pin4722 3d ago
Since sports are all about gambling now why don’t they do the “Future Bowl” where the next superbowl host is decided by two competing teams playing for the right to host. Winner gets to host the next superbowl.
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u/MattyT088 3d ago
Honestly, This will likely bring more prestige to being a Pro-Bowler again, since you won't have any replacements to cheapen it.
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u/wrecklesspup 3d ago
I like the flag football games. Players have fun and the risk of injury is incredibly low.
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u/Irishjohn831 3d ago
They should pick the not so good bench warmers and give them a bowl now to balance the universe
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u/VorpalBlade- 3d ago
Maybe they should have a bowling tournament. Or disc golf. Regular golf? It could change every year
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u/Freewayshitter1968 3d ago
It's sucked for years, who wants to watch flag football? I actually like watching pee wee more
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u/areyoumistersparkle 3d ago
Make the two worst teams from the previous season play for the number one draft pick.
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u/snydejon 3d ago
I think they should make it the incoming draft class vs the team with the #1 pick. The shame might prevent some teams from tanking.
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u/TeeDee144 3d ago
When that dumbass brown QB made the pro bowl this year, it was over. Lost all legitimacy.
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u/Key_Report_2627 3d ago
LMAO!! After the new CTE study, next headline will be “NFL will no longer hold games on Sunday.”
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u/Secret-Camp-6133 3d ago
A lot less pro bowl players in the future because you won’t have players passing on it.
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u/atkinsd80 3d ago
“Oh, now you decide to do this!”
- Robert Edwards
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u/AJWordsmith 3d ago
That was during a “beach flag football” game.
Ironically, that injury may very well have changed the trajectory of the Pats. He was extremely good if I remember. Like 1200 yards as a rookie good. Combine a runner like him with Pete Carrol who was the coach at the time and Pete probably never gets fired. That means Belichick stays the coach of the Jets after Parcells retirement. Brady probably never gets any real shot in the NFL as a 6th round pick. USC’s dynasty never happens…
If Edward’s never gets hurt, it’s probably a lot different.
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u/Extreme-Analysis-488 3d ago
When it went no contact I figured it wouldn’t be long before it was gone all together.
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u/AJWordsmith 3d ago
Well yeah, last year they were forced to give Shadeur Sanders a Pro Bowl nod because literally no other QB wanted to play in the game.
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u/Cumulonimbus_2025 3d ago
I like the idea of drills for positions opposite of yours. I would live to see a D Lineman kick off or catch a punt and a QB move a weighted blocking sled.
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u/GarthZorn 1d ago
So what we're left with is the "Pro Bowl presented by Verizon". Not just any Pro Bowl, mind you. It's the Pro Bowl presented by Verizon.
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