Thoughts on NFLPA All-Pro Team

 By John Turney 

In December the NFLPA announced they would release their own All-Pro team. Apparently, they were not pleased that the media and other organizations get to vote on who they think are the best players at each position and that the players could, "decide who is really the best at each position."

The NFL even put rules on voting. Among them was this, "If a player missed five or more games as of Week 15, then they are ineligible. This is to ensure that we are choosing the best players who had the most impact this season. Being available counts."

So, they took a vote after Week 15, apparently. And that made players who were hurt or on IR eligible, because "being available counts" in the minds of the NFLPA.

The issue is the NFL season is 18 weeks. 

Certainly, they can, and do, make whatever guidelines they want. And it reads as though they want a minimum of three missed games. Perhaps not, perhaps, with the bye, Week 15 means teams have played 14 games and a player who'd played eleven games is eligible. And if that player does not play anymore then he'd be eligible. 

That has to be the rule because Aaron Donald, the NFL's best defensive tackle when going by a player personnel report and probably the best defensive tackle of all time played eleven games and was voted All-Pro by the NFLPA.

Eleven games. Is that "being available'?

The NFLPA's vote from their players also selected Cordarrelle Patterson as their kick returner even though, in 2022, he returned nine kicks. Yes, he is in the conversation as being the best kick-returner of all time. He has returned the most kicks for scores and took one to the house this year. 

But nine returns? Curious at best.

The biggest head-scratcher is no Micah Parsons. No comment. We'll just let that sit. Unbelievable. 

Other than that it looks like what the AP and PFWA are going to release in the next few days and weeks. There are no hidden gems, no sleepers that the media is going to miss that the secret squirrel player knowledge revealed.

Most of the picks are the same as our All-Pro team we released Monday night. Even the format was similar to ours, we released a team with three defensive interior players and two edges, the "Fangio" front.

Interesting. But, not earth-shattering.

With that here is their team—

Offense

Quarterback: Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City)

Running back: Josh Jacobs (Las Vegas)

Fullback: Kyle Juszczyk (San Francisco)

Wide Receiver: Justin Jefferson (Minnesota), Davante Adams (Las Vegas)

Tight End: Travis Kelce (Kansas City)

Left Tackle: Trent Williams (San Francisco)

Left Guard: Joel Bitonio (Cleveland)

Center: Jason Kelce (Philadelphia)

Right Guard: Zack Martin (Dallas)

Right Tackle: Lane Johnson (Philadelphia)

Defense

Edge Rusher: Nick Bosa (San Francisco), Myles Garrett (Cleveland)

Interior Defensive Lineman: Chris Jones (Kansas City), Aaron Donald (LA Rams)

Nose Tackle: Dexter Lawrence (New York Giants)

Off-Ball Linebacker: Fred Warner (San Francisco), Roquan Smith (Baltimore)

Cornerback: Pat Surtain II (Denver), Darius Slay (Philadelphia)

Free Safety: Minkah Fitzpatrick (Pittsburgh)

Strong Safety: Derwin James Jr. (LA Chargers)

Special teams

Kicker: Jason Myers (Seattle)

Punter: Tommy Townsend (Kansas City)

Long snapper: Morgan Cox (Tennessee)

Kick Returner: Cordarrelle Patterson (Atlanta)

Punt Returner: KaVontae Turpin (Dallas)

Core Teamer: Jeremy Reaves (Washington), Justin Hardee (NY Jets)