2022 Pro Bowl Predictions

 By John Turney 

Tomorrow the NFL will announce the annual NFC and AFC Pro Bowl teams. Thank goodness there will be no game this year. But the honor of being voted among the best will remain and there will be a flag football game in Las Vegas coached by Peyton (AFC) and Eli (NFC) Manning among other things to replace the actual useless game. 

Before they are announced here are our best guesses based on the kind of years players are having and trying to divine how players and coaches voted and then factoring in the fan voting and what teams have the strongest support for their own players.

Here goes—

AFC

Offense

QB—Patrick Mahomes, KC; Josh Allen, Buf; Tua Tagovailoa, Mia

RB—Nick Chubb, Cle;  Derrick Henry, Ten; Josh Jacobs, LV

FB—Patrick Ricard, Bal

WR—Tyreek Hill, Mia, Davante Adams, LV; Stefon Diggs, Buf; Jaylen Waddle, Mia

TE—Travis Kelce, KC; Mark Andrews, Bal

OT—Terron Armstead, Mia; Laremy Tunsil, Hou; Kolton Miller, LV

OG—Joel Bitonio, Cle; Michael Onwenu, NE; Kevin Zeitler, Bal

C—Creed Humphrey, KC, Connor Williams, Mia

Defense

DE—Myles Garrett, Cle; Maxx Crosby, LV; Trey Hendrickson, Cin

DT—Chris Jones, KC; Quinnen Williams, NYJ; Jeffery Simmons, Ten

OLB—Matt Judon, NE; Matt Milano, Buf; Jaelan Phillips, Mia

ILB—Tremaine Edmunds, Buf; Nick Bolton, KC

CB—Sauce Gardner, NYJ; Patrick Surtain II, Den; Marlon Humphrey, Bal

SS—Derwin James, LAC

FS—Minkah Fitzpatrick, Pit; Jordan Poyer, Buf

Special Teams

Punter—Tommy Townsend, KC

Place Kicker—Justin Tucker, Bal

Ret—Marcus Jones, NE

Special teams—Brenden Schooler, NE

Long snapper—Thomas Hennessy, NYJ

NFC

Offense

QB—Jalen Hurts, Phi; Geno Smith, Sea; Aaron Rodgers, GB

RB—Saquan Barkley, NYG; Christian McCaffrey, Car-SF;  Dalvin Cook, Min

FB—Kyle Juszczyk, SF

WR—Justin Jefferson, Min; AJ Brown, Phi; Terry McLaurin, Was; CeeDee Lamb, Dal

TE—George Kittle, SF, T.J. Hockenson, Det-Min

OT—Trent Williams, SF; Lane Johnson, Phi; Tristan Wirfs, TB

OG—Zack Martin, Dal; Chris Lindstrom, Atl; Isaac Seumalo, Phi

C—Jason Kelce, Phi; Frank Ragnow, Det

Defense

DE—Nick Bosa, SF; Brian Burns, Car; Josh Sweat, Phi

DT—Aaron Donald, LAR; Javon Hargrave, Phi; Dexter Lawrence, NYG

OLB—Micah Parsons, Dal; Za'Darius Smith, Min; Haason Reddick, Phi

LB—Fred Warner, SF; Bobby Wagner, LAR

CB—Jaire Alexander, GB; Darius Slay, Phi; Tariq Woolen, Sea

FS— C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Phi

SS— Harrison Smith, Min; Talanoa Hufanga, SF

Special teams

Punter— Tress Way, Was

Place Kicker—Jason Myers, Sea

Ret—Kene Nwangwu, Min

Special teams—George Odum, SF

Long snapper—Andrew DePaola, Min

The AFC punter could be Ryan Stonehouse, he is the leading vote-getter in the AFC but his net punting average is lower than Townsend's.

The thrid NFC quartertback was also hard. It seems that only two quarterbacks in the NFC are having truly Pro Bowl-worthy seasons—Hurts and Smith. But there have to be three chosen but who will be the third? Rodgers? Brady? Cousins? Hard to know but we went with Rodgers as maybe having a slightly better season than Brady. 

Cousins is winning and some people don't think QB Wins is a stat and it's not, it's a record but that may push him to the Pro Bowl team ahead of Rodgers and maybe Brady. None of them are killing it in the passing department.

The third NFC tackle was difficult. Wirfs has missed some time and Andrew Thomas and Christian Darrisaw are worthy but the only question is can either one get enough support to supplant Wirfs. It would seem that with two guys that are coming out they might take votes from each other and since Wirfs is more known and was having an excellent season before the injury that he would be the favorite. 

Joe Thuney of the Chiefs could be one of the three AFC guards. We just had to pick and see what happens in some cases. Alec Ingold would be the second choice to Ricard at AFC fullback. 

We'll see tomorrow if we get anywhere close.