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The NFL’s Pro Bowl ballot is out, but it left off players on the Injured Reserve. At face value, the NFL’s move makes sense that players who don’t play any actual games cannot appear on the ballot for fans to vote for. But when teams place a player on the injured reserve list, it means that the player must sit out at least 3 games. The injured reserve list is not a long-term list that should automatically disqualify players who might miss at most 3 games out of a 17-game season.
NFL Pro Bowl voting leaves out players on injured reserve
This rule makes no sense because it prevents fans from voting for certain players who might be on injured reserve right now. For example, RB Derrick Henry has 937 yards and 10 touchdowns in just 8 games. Those kinds of stats are normal for an entire season for any other NFL player. But for Derrick Henry, who is out due to a foot injury, his fans won’t even be able to vote for him to appear in the Pro Bowl. He’s certainly earned it for doing a whole season’s worth of running in just 8 games.
The timing of the ballot process is also a head scratcher. With 7 weeks left in the regular season, a lot of things can happen between now and then. Players on the bubble might flash more or perform worse and should not qualify to go to the Pro Bowl. On the flip side, there is a scenario where a player named to the Pro Bowl might get injured in the second half of the season and land on the IR. At that point, does he deserve to stay on the Pro Bowl list when someone like Derrick Henry was completely omitted?
Recency bias comes into play as well. Fans, coaches, and players are prone to recency bias, especially in the NFL. If someone like Kyler Murray or Matthew Stafford garners a lot of votes for their 1st half regular season play, but they do progressively worse in the second half, they would benefit from early voting. Meanwhile, late bloomers like Allen Robinson (improbable but not impossible) could explode in the second half of the season but miss out on a free trip to Las Vegas.
Unlike the NBA, where their All-Star game is midseason and requires earlier voting, the NFL has the luxury of waiting until Week 16 to start polling fans, coaches, and other players on who earned the right to be a Pro Bowler.
Additionally, the NFL’s decision to omit injured reserve players from the Pro Bowl will affect players whose contracts have incentives and escalators based on making the Pro Bowl. It’s a curious policy for sure.
