Pro Bowl snub could hurt young Buccaneers star
The NFL is broken. There is no other way to say it. As much as it would be nice to move beyond this and ignore it, the whole league gets thrown into question because of the very existence of the Pro Bowl. How can an award that plays into contracts and Hall of Fame consideration […]
The NFL is broken. There is no other way to say it.
As much as it would be nice to move beyond this and ignore it, the whole league gets thrown into question because of the very existence of the Pro Bowl.
How can an award that plays into contracts and Hall of Fame consideration have a fan vote element? How could Antoine Winfield Jr. get left out of the Pro Bowl despite being one of the best safeties in the NFL this season and the likely MVP for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?
As a writer that has covered the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the last five years, I like to avoid writing about my frustrations due to the Pro Bowl. That just comes with the territory.
The very basis for the game and the award is already silly, but the fact that the Bucs always get the short end of the stick due to being a smaller market is just something that most fans get used to.
However, this is simply too much. Leaving Antoine Winfield Jr. off the Pro Bowl roster is simply bullshit, and putting in an aging veteran that has accomplished little this year in Winfield's place is just a slap in the face.
Winfield has put together a historic, dominant season. Baker has had one of the worst seasons of his career.
While some within the NFL world would simply say "Relax. The only thing that matters is winning," that couldn't be further from the truth.
The NFL is a business. Guys want to get paid. The guys that get paid the most are the ones with the most Pro Bowls and All-Pro selections. Winfield deserved the honor and the financial rewards that are tied to making the Pro Bowl.
This is about as egregious as it gets. There is no argument in any world of any universe that Winfield didn't deserve to be in, and there are certainly no arguments out there that Baker deserved to be in above Winfield.
The NFL is a mess, and the Pro Bowl is merely one example of a massive shortcoming of this league that absolutely has to be addressed to better serve its players.
However, unfortunately, the NFL is simply going to keep on propping up players from the larger markets and ignoring guys that play for the undesirable franchises, and that hurts guys like Antoine Winfield Jr.
But hey, it's a Bucs life.
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