Pro Bowl Loses Another 17 Players

The promos may talk about the NFL's best playing in the Pro Bowl this Sunday, but really it's the battle of the NFL's best replacements it can talk into playing in the game.

Thanks to the decision to play the game the week before the Super Bowl, the NFL had to announce 17 Pro Bowl replacements on Monday. The Colts and Saints each had seven players picked for the Pro Bowl so that was 14 players to replace, plus three Vikings begged out on Monday as well. Of the 78 non-specialists picked for the team originally only 51 (65 percent) are still on the roster.

The stars will not be coming to Miami. Only one of the six quarterbacks who were chosen for the Pro Bowl will be playing in the game. And it's not that the next best will even be playing in the game--AFC alternates Ben Roethlisberger and Carson Palmer turned down the invite so it's actually the No. 4, No. 7 and No. 8 choices in the AFC will be playing in the game. It's not much better in the NFC, as Aaron Rodgers is the only true Pro Bowl quarterback who will be playing in the game.

Here's the complete breakdown of how many of the original Pro Bowlers are actually playing in the game as of Monday night. And do remember that not all of the originally picked replacements are playing either, which explains why the NFL could need 17 replacements on Monday.

AFC		NFC
QB	0 of 3	QB	1 of 3
RB	3 of 3	RB	2 of 3
FB	1 of 1	FB	1 of 1
WR	2 of 4	WR	2 of 4
TE	1 of 2	TE	2 of 2
OT	2 of 3	OT	2 of 3
OG	3 of 3	OG	2 of 3
C	1 of 2	C	1 of 2
DE	1 of 3	DE	3 of 3
DT	3 of 3	DT	3 of 3
OLB	2 of 3	OLB	2 of 3
ILB	2 of 2	ILB	1 of 2
CB	3 of 3	CB	1 of 3
S	2 of 4	S	2 of 4

There will be different proposals thrown out over the next week to "fix the Pro Bowl." The reality is that it's unfixable. Players will always have reasons to beg out of the game, whether it's before the Super Bowl, after the Super Bowl, played in the middle of the summer or played in the middle of the preseason.

The Pro Bowl will always be an afterthought and there's just no real way to change that.