5 Additional Vikings Named to Pro Bowl… Including Xavier Rhodes

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Photo: Kyle Hansen

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Seth and I talked about this very topic yesterday on MSF Daily – LIVE and I’m glad the NFL came out this morning to prove our point…. once again. The NFL Pro Bowl is a waste of time and space. It’s the one thing about the NFL, outside of concussions, that continually makes the league look inept. None of the all-star festivities around the professional sports world are ever praised, but the NFL Pro Bowl is by far the worst, expecially compared to how great the in-season product is.

When we broached this topic on Monday, we were talking about some of the snubs for the Vikings, specifically Eric Kendricks, who is on this list of 5 Vikings Extras (rightfully so). But instead of lightly tapping the pendulum back toward the balanced position, we’re violently ripping it through, as if breaking the damn thing is worth bonus points. Xavier Rhodes has just been named a 2020 pro bowler and that makes my mouth water and pits sweat a little… like that bad feeling you get right before breakfast resurfaces.

How does this happen?

Because it isn’t all based on merit. The fans get 1/3 of the vote. I’d be surprised if Xavier got that…… Players get 1/3 of the vote which likely turns into a player popularity contest just as much as it does anything else. Then, the coaches also get 1/3… which is probably the fairest of the thirds but let’s be real here too, coaches don’t have time to watch everyone in their conference. If they don’t play against players regularly, then they don’t know shit about them…. so they vote with bias or they take advice from someone else.

None of it makes sense. This is exactly why Eric Kendricks waits to be named a Pro Bowl alternate, even though he’s a top-3 middle linebacker league-wide, and Xavier Rhodes gets mentioned right next to him, even though he shouldn’t be allowed to sniff Kendricks’ jock, let alone a Pro Bowl roster. What a joke.

This isn’t a big deal. Who cares if Xavier makes a Pro Bowl. I honestly don’t (but Richard Sherman will, I’d bet). If anyone should be irritated, it’s players and owners collectively. Bonus money is actually tied to this worthless game. If you make a Pro Bowl roster, you usually make more money. Kendricks almost missed out on that… and Rhodes actually got his. That’s mind boggling if you watched this team play all season. Owners should want to reward and incentivise great play, but it should really piss them off to pay out bonus money to those who don’t deserve it. Players should hate seeing peers make the roster over someone else who deserves it more. 

Everyone else who was named for the Vikings was well-deserving. It’s really good to see Griffen get rewarded for such a comeback season so at least there’s a little good that comes out of all this. Kirk Cousins deserved his bid too… but I wasn’t outraged by his snub. Hell, Teddy Bridewater made it in 2017. 

Jeez…. I just can’t wait to watch the Pro Bowl.

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Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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