The 2011 AFC Pro Bowl roster had Tom Brady as the starter with Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers as reserves. Cut to today, we have Cleveland Browns QB Shedeur Sanders selected as a replacement; a rookie with seven starts and a 3-4 record while throwing 7 TDs and 10 INTs.
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To make it worse, statistically, he ranked near the bottom among AFC quarterbacks who threw at least 100 passes. So naturally, when Shedeur Sanders was announced as a Pro Bowl selection yesterday, backlash followed immediately. Fans began questioning merit while analysts questioned logic. But according to Shannon Sharpe, the outrage is missing the point.
On the latest edition of Nightcap, Sharpe began with a blunt admission.
“He didn’t deserve to go,” the Broncos legend said, before adding, “It happens. He’s not the first alternate to ever make the Pro Bowl. He’s not going to be the last,” he said.
The Pro Bowl, as Sharpe noted, is no longer the honor it once was. Gone are the Hawaii trips, the week-long celebrations, and the prestige that once made players rearrange schedules to attend. Today, it’s a destination many top quarterbacks actively avoid, especially those nursing injuries or simply uninterested.
For the Nightcap host, that context matters.
Most of the AFC bigwigs like Patrick Mahomes and Bo Nix are injured, while Drake Maye is headed to the Super Bowl. Shannon Sharpe then floated a reality most Shedeur Sanders fans wouldn’t want to hear: quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, and Aaron Rodgers likely declined their Pro Bowl invite.
“There’s a great chance they reached out to these guys and they were like, ‘Nah, I’m good,’” Sharpe said.
That’s how alternates are usually selected. The second major factor is votes. Per Fansided, “The Pro Bowl rosters are voted on by fans, players and coaches. Each of those segments makes up 33.3 percent of the vote. Players with the highest point totals are named to the Pro Bowl.”
Eventually, the number of QBs fitting this criteria runs out. And when it does, someone like Shedeur Sanders gets the call, mostly because availability and voting succession made him next in line.
Chad Johnson echoed that sentiment while adding emotional context of his own. Ocho reminisced about when the Pro Bowl ‘meant something’, as in when players flew ten hours, brought family, and actually competed. “It was unbelievable,” he said. “It was a real treat.”
That era is gone. And because it is, Johnson argued that judging Shedeur Sanders by outdated standards misses the point, because the honor itself has changed. Shannon Sharpe then drove home the most important takeaway: history won’t care how Sanders got there.
“When it’s all said and done,” he said, “he’ll be a one-time Pro Bowl player… Nobody’s going to remember five years, 10 years, 15, 20, 30 years from now that he was an alternate and got selected to the Pro Bowl.”
Unc and Ocho react to Shedeur’s Pro Bowl alternate nod and how the game has lost its weight with players continuing to pass on the opportunity@ShannonSharpe @ochocinco #Nightcap pic.twitter.com/wRSMMVfHfp
— Nightcap (@NightcapShow_) January 27, 2026
Sharpe and Johnson are logical with their takes. But the major point remains: Shedeur Sanders, based on merit, didn’t deserve to be selected over Trevor Lawrence or even his rookie draft mates like Cam Ward and Jaxson Dart.
If the Browns QB’s inclusion was due to fan voting, then it’s high time the league considers some changes. Else the Pro Bowl will lose whatever little credibility it has these days.
