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The Kansas City Chiefs walk away from the 2014 NFL Pro Bowl announcements with eight players represented. It's a surprise, not as big of a surprise as last year's six Pro Bowlers on a two-win team, but still a bit of a surprise.
The Chiefs eight Pro Bowlers were: LT Branden Albert, S Eric Berry, RB Jamaal Charles, CB Brandon Flowers, LB Tamba Hali, LB Justin Houston, WR Dexter McCluster, DT Dontari Poe.
But let's start with the snubs.
Snubs: Derrick Johnson, Dustin Colquitt
Look folks, no one is going to feel sorry for the Chiefs. They have eight freakin' Pro Bowlers. So the cries from Chiefs fans for Derrick Johnson won't be received very well from outside of Kansas City.
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But still. How in the world is Derrick Johnson not a Pro Bowl player? And while we're at it, what about Dustin Colquitt?
The KC Star's Randy Covitz had DJ and Colquitt on his "almost certain" to make it list. Many, many people thought those two players would make it. In fact, if you had asked me last week who had the best shot of making it in, only Charles, Hali and Berry would rank above DJ and Colquitt in my mind.
Again, no one is feeling sorry for the Chiefs. There are lots of great players in the league and plenty of people will bring out numbers to explain why so-and-so was a better candidate than DJ or Colquitt. But I watch the games and I know how good and how important each of those two players are so it's confusing to me.
No brainers: Charles, Berry and Hali
I felt pretty darn confident before the announcement predicting those guys would've gotten in. Charles was the biggest lock. Berry and Hali have been Pro Bowlers before and they're both having great seasons so we knew they were likely to get in.
Minor surprise: McCluster, Poe, Albert
Obviously they're each deserving, but they all had competition. And they're all first-time Pro Bowlers.
McCluster, as a punt returner, has been terrific. He is absolutely deserving in that category. Poe is so, so valuable with the insane amount of snaps he plays. No man his size should be playing that many snaps that deep into the season and remain effective. Albert is a bigger surprise but I've felt like he's been on the edge of the Pro Bowl for a couple of years now.
Bigger surprise: Flowers, Houston
For me, the Flowers' bid is surprising. It's his first one. He wasn't on my radar as one of the Chiefs to make it given the struggles of the pass defense in recent weeks. But he was very good early on in the season. And he's a the best corner on one of the top defenses (statistically). There's something to be said for that. So while I'm surprised, it's not like this is an outrage.
Besides, it's the Pro Bowl. It's all just fake outrage anyway.
The Houston decision is confusing to me simply because he missed so many games at the end of the season. Houston has been out for a month with his dislocated elbow. That's a significant amount of games to miss and still be voted to the Pro Bowl. Granted, Houston was terrific when he was in, a legitimate defensive player of the year candidate. I'm just surprised.
