Pro Bowl Patrons Put Priorities Last, Disregard Player’s Possible Injuries
The Pro Bowl always happens a week or two weeks before the Super Bowl and consists of the best of the best football players in the world, the only problem is that football is arguably the most dangerous sport in the world. At any given time, a player can receive a hit that completely destroys their whole career. Why would a talented player want to jeopardize their whole career for one game that doesn’t even count?
In the 1999 Rookie Flag Football Game during Pro Bowl Week, Robert Edwards, a running back for the New England Patriots, terribly injured his knee after an incredible season. There was a chance he would never walk again and it took him 3 years to make his comeback to the NFL, but his comeback was short lived and he only lasted one more year in the NFL.
This truly shows how dangerous Football is, if a rookie running back in his physical prime can injury his leg to the point of near amputation, then maybe the one unnecessary game of the year shouldn’t be played. This was also a preliminary game just for fun and wasn’t even the actual Pro Bowl, it was a non-contact game, like P.E. Flag Football. Edwards never had the career he should have and did not make nearly as much money as he could have because of the NFL’s attempt to make money by televising an extremely expendable game.
In 2007, future Hall of Famer Drew Brees dislocated his left shoulder in the Pro Bowl. He is arguably one of the best quarterbacks to have ever played the game but was so close to never playing again. Brees needed two months to recover, which severely affected his offseason workouts and his conditioning to get in shape for games. Brees was lucky, a quarterback relies on their arm strength and accuracy in order to succeed professionally, he was lucky in the sense that he dislocated his non-throwing shoulder. While any injury is a bad injury, had this been his right shoulder he could have never played again. However, this was not the case and he even went on to win the Super Bowl and compete in more Pro Bowls, his most recent being in Glendale, Arizona for the 2015 Pro Bowl.
But not everyone decides to compete in the Pro Bowl like Brees did. This year alone, 28 players that were selected decided not to compete but still accepted the selection. They decided not to compete because they feared being injured, they were already injured, or they are competing in the Super Bowl in the following weeks and need to focus on that. Some notable players that chose not to play include Peyton Manning and recent Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady. These 28 players are still recognized as being selected to the Pro Bowl, even though they did not play. Even more players just flat out declined the invitation to play because they didn’t want to get injured, Philip Rivers and Joe Flacco are some notable players who did this.
The NFL even recognizes how dangerous and devoid of meaning this game is, this is evident through their actions of amending various rules just for this game. There were no more kickoffs and kick returns (because they often have the most injuries due to the fact that players are running full speed at each other from opposite sides of the field) and there was no blitzing, or having more than just the Defensive Lineman rush the Quarterback, allowed.
The risk of injuries makes this journalist question the NFL’s actions, while the Pro Bowl was at least immensely popular in the early 2010’s, the ratings have dropped significantly since 2011, its peak in the last 8 years. At least in 2011 it was justifiable by the greedy executives who were only out to make money, because they were pulling in tons of viewers. Even then, the business rewards did not outweigh the safety risks. Nowadays they aren’t even making money any more, so what is the point of having a useless game that doesn’t do well financially and also risks the player’s careers? You, the readers, have read my opinion and hopefully can form a valid one of your own after reading this.
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