If you’d like to add your vote for this year’s Pro Bowl (one of sports’ least exciting all-star games), fans can do so through this Monday, 12/19 via the official ballot at NFL.com. And if you’re a Giants fan (or a particularly astute fantasy geek) you might notice two glaring omissions from the candidates at defensive end and wide receiver … namely, DE Jason Pierre Paul and WR Victor Cruz, who have each had breakout seasons at their respective positions for New York.
Pierre-Paul is currently 5th in the NFL with 12.5 sacks, while Cruz is 3rd in the league in receiving yards with 1,150, but neither are eligible for your votes to go to Hawaii. According to the Ralph Vacchiano of the NY Daily News, JPP and Cruz are victims of an antiquated voting system, and both were left off the ballot by the Giants organization, who were forced to make some difficult decisions based on the sheer volume of talent they have at certain positions:
Teams are only allowed a certain number of players at each position – two defensive ends and two receivers, for example. In some cases, there are other categories, such as a “flex” spot for either a running back or a receiver.
Since the Giants had to submit their players before October 25th, they put Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora as their two DEs, and Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham as their two WRs. For the flex position, they chose Brandon Jacobs after giving the RB slot to Ahmad Bradshaw.
Apparently, there is some flexibility for teams to swap out candidates during the season. But according to a Giants’ team spokesman, they elected to keep their starters on the ballot, since none were lost to injury for any significant periods, and despite the emergence of the younger stars on the field.
New York did try to sneak Pierre-Paul on the ballot at middle linebacker, but the league quickly squashed that, since, ya know, he doesn’t play that position. One seemingly obvious answer would be to swap out Cruz for Jacobs at the flex spot, but with the way Jacobs has come on late in the season (and given his fragile mental state), it makes taking his slot away that much tougher.
Now, the fan vote only accounts for one-third of the total Pro Bowl voting, with players and coaches making up the other two-thirds. So there is an outside chance either player could still make the NFC squad if they get enough love from their peers. Also, since it’s relatively meaningless, plenty of players choose to drop out of the game, leaving room for qualified replacements … so there’s a good chance both Cruz and Pierre-Paul will ultimately end up in Honolulu.
But this situation points out an obvious flaw in the Pro Bowl balloting system, especially in the days of running back by committee, four receiver sets and constantly platooning defensive units. Whether they’re technically a “starter” or not, as long as they contribute in a significant way, there’s no real reason to prevent teams from including any player on the ballot who might be deserving of an all-star nod.
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