The 2023 Pro Bowl Games will feature a lot of young NFL players making their mark. The AFC Pro Bowl roster features quarterback Trevor Lawrence of the Jacksonville Jaguars, while the NFC Pro Bowl roster includes quarterback Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals. The Pro Bowl is an annual celebration of the NFL’s top players, the majority of whom are rising stars in the league. The 2023 Pro Bowl Games will be held on February 5, 2023, and will be presented by Verizon. Rae Sremmurd will perform at halftime during the games.
The Pro Bowl is an annual celebration of the NFL’s best players, the majority of whom are seasoned veterans with several years of experience. There’s also Sauce Gardner. The New York Jets rookie cornerback burst onto the scene this season, proclaiming his arrival with his strong coverage style and excellent playmaking skills.
And he isn’t alone. It was tough to miss all the new blood when the AFC and NFC teams met at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday for a walkthrough ahead of the Pro Bowl Games’ finale on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN/ESPN+). Fourteen of the fourteen players on this year’s Pro Bowl teams have three or less years of NFL experience.
It’s a stark reminder that, even as the past generation’s stars retire, the game’s future is bright.
“[Tom] Brady retired, and that’s decades of brilliance right there,” said Micah Parsons, a second-year Dallas Cowboys edge rusher. “J.J. Watt announced his retirement. Von Miller is still alive and well, but I’m not sure how much longer we have to enjoy him. I hope he continues to play.
“So it’s nice to be a part of this new generation and maybe carry on what those men achieved and receive those gold [Hall of Fame] jackets like they did.”
Some of the greatest stars in the Sunday competitions will also be among the youngest players there. There is no greater example than Minnesota Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson, who is just in his third season yet has already been named to his third Pro Bowl. He was also named to the All-Pro team unanimously.
“There are so many outstanding young guys right now,” Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence stated before being cut off mid-sentence by Gardner for a fist bump. “Speaking of talented young players. It’s fantastic for the game.”
Gardner, who led the NFL with 20 passes defensed, became the first rookie cornerback in 41 years to be named first-team All-Pro.
Not all of the new and rising talents are household names yet. Amon-Ra St. Brown of the Detroit Lions is here after 106 catches for a shockingly high-octane offence.
Tariq Woolen of the Seattle Seahawks went from the fifth round of the NFL draught to the Pro Bowl in one season after leading the league with six interceptions. He joins Gardner and Dallas Cowboys return specialist KaVontae Turpin as one of three rookies in this Pro Bowl.
As the clubs finish their skills contests and begin the new round of flag football games on Sunday, they may give a brief glimpse into the league’s future.
“It’s amazing,” Lawrence added, “because players are going to become better every year.”
Making memories is the goal of the 2023 Pro Bowl Games:
When Eli Manning thinks back on his four Pro Bowl appearances, he doesn’t focus on whether his conference won or lost, or how many yards he passed for. If he’s being honest, the former New York Giants quarterback can’t recall either.
Instead, he recalls his daughter Caroline’s second birthday party at the hotel pool in Hawaii in 2016. “I thought, ‘What can we do?'” Manning stated earlier this week. “As a result, I invited all of the players. ‘Hey, it’s open bar on me from 4 o’clock on,’ I said.
“So a slew of players showed up. We had a large group of kids gather by the pool and we all sung happy birthday to my 2-year-old, which she will never remember. But it was entertaining. And you tell her about your experiences. I also took a couple shots of it.”
Most people’s defining picture of the Pro Bowl may not be a huge percentage of the NFL’s most top players and their families singing happy birthday to Caroline Manning poolside. However, for Pro Bowl veterans like Eli and his brother Peyton, the off-the-field activities are what they remember the most.
The Pro Bowl Games this year are adding to those memories. The NFC and AFC coaches are Eli and Peyton Manning, respectively. The structure is changed, with skills events and flag football games selecting the victor (Sunday, 3 to 6 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN/ESPN+), but the experience remains unique.
“It’s been fantastic, just being around all these guys, clearly the top players in the game,” said Trevor Lawrence, 23, of the Jacksonville Jaguars, who recently ended his second season.
The Pro Bowl brings together athletes like as New Orleans Saints defensive end Cam Jordan, a 12-year veteran competing in his eighth Pro Bowl, and rookies such as New York Jets’ Sauce Gardner.
Jordan recalls going to Hawaii Pro Bowls with his father, former Minnesota Vikings tight end Steve Jordan, who was chosen six times.
“I dimly remembered losing my tiny sand pail out in the water when I was a youngster,” Jordan recounted. “And at the time, we had a babysitter who needed to go out and acquire it. And we have photographs to prove it. And now you have photographic evidence that you were sobbing during the Pro Bowl as a tiny 3-year-old, or whatever I was.
“To be in Hawaii with my father, and now I’ve had a son who was playing on the beach. He was maybe a year old? It sort of completes the cycle.”
The time spent together at the Pro Bowl might go in a variety of directions. It may entail lengthy chats with legends like the late Derrick Thomas, as AFC defensive coordinator Ray Lewis said. Or, with someone like Peyton, a 14-time Pro Bowl selection with the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos, it may mean you get caught off guard by one of his practical pranks.
According to the Denver Post, Peyton enlisted offensive lineman Nick Mangold of the New York Jets and Kris Dielman of the Chargers to hurl then-Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler into the hotel pool at the 2009 Pro Bowl. Peyton was wise enough to distract Cutler and steal his smartphone prior to the trick in order to avoid destroying the gadget, but the joke ultimately backfired. Cutler, a Type 1 diabetic, was carrying his blood-sugar monitor in his pocket. The monitor had been damaged.
“We made a horrible audible,” Peyton later said. “I believe we were thinking correctly when we attempted to obtain the smartphone. Then we learn he’s getting insulin injections. That was something we overlooked.”
Cutler found a substitute, and the week continued uninterrupted. Peyton Manning was always a big presence at the Pro Bowl, for better or bad. “Peyton understands how to conduct a court,” Eli observed. He continues to do so. Even among today’s top stars, his presence outshines the majority of them.
Meeting legends is one of the things that younger Pro Bowlers remember. It’s what Hall of Famer Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens remembers most.
“Reggie White once said something to me that forever impacted my outlook,” Lewis explained. “‘Legends validate legends,’ he replied. We tell you [when you’re a legend], he was affirming. We assume it’s social media followers or this or that in this new era. But what he meant was, “We’ll tell you when you’re great by [showing] respect.”
“I’m telling you, simply all of us sitting at the bar, it should’ve been taped,” he continued. It’s only the chats, man. Those were similar to podcasts on excellence and what it entails.”
C.J. Mosley, a Jets linebacker in his fifth Pro Bowl, recalled the significance of his first, when he was a rookie in 2014.
“Seeing some of the other guys, seeing some of the top players in the league, seeing their work ethic, just hanging out with my peers as a young rookie opened my eyes,” Mosley said. “It was probably a routine day for Von Miller, but it wasn’t for me.
“Based on his demeanour, he appeared to be extremely relaxed in the locker room. He was blaring music from his large speaker. He basically made sure everyone laughed and had a positive attitude. Because I didn’t know what to anticipate, just watching him and all the older guys respond to it and be genuine, like mellow and comfortable, really set the tone for me. I came in thinking, “Let me get ready for hard practise,” but everyone was quite relaxed.”.
The laid-back attitudes can lead to more good-natured folly, and not only by Peyton.
Veterans, for example, have been known to discreetly bill large bar tabs and meal expenditures to the hotel rooms of younger Pro Bowl players. It’s a custom Lewis first encountered when he uncovered a $13,000 charge when checking out of the team hotel one year (he declined to reveal the perpetrator). And it’s a tradition he enthusiastically carried on by making fun of other young players in coming years.
Similar pranks will surely be done this weekend, however if Thursday’s skills competition is any indicator, the weekend will not be free of semi-serious competition.
“We have to win,” Peyton stated. “I don’t want to hear [Eli] complain about losing this competition all year.”We have an amazing team, with some of the top football players in the world. “I’m going to attempt to keep out of the way this week and let my men do their thing.”