Pro Bowl Roster Overhaul

There's been some changes to the Pro Bowl rosters since they were originally announced about a month ago. I can count 37 changes. Only Russell Wilson remains from the original six quarterbacks. Only Tamba Hali remains from the original six outside linebackers. The league had to expect an annual overhaul of the original Pro Bowl roster when the game was moved to the weekend before the Super Bowl. That schedule immediately eliminates the players taking part in the Super Bowl. Which is usually a pretty significant number.

Here's the Pro Bowl rosters. Those players that were originally selected and those that replaced them.

2016 Pro Bowlers

QUARTERBACKS (6)
Tom Brady, New England (replaced by Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay)
Cam Newton, Carolina (replaced by Tyrod Taylor, Buffalo)
Carson Palmer, Arizona (replaced by Teddy Bridgewater, Minnesota)
Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay (replaced by Derek Carr, Oakland)
Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh (replaced by Eli Manning, New York Giants)
Russell Wilson, Seattle

RUNNING BACKS (6)
Adrian Peterson, Minnesota
Devonta Freeman, Atlanta
Jonathan Stewart, Carolina (replaced by Latavius Murray, Oakland)
Todd Gurley, St. Louis
Doug Martin, Tampa Bay
LeSean McCoy, Buffalo (replaced by Chris Ivory, New York Jets)

FULLBACKS (2)
Marcel Reece, Oakland
Mike Tolbert, Carolina (replaced by Patrick DiMarco, Atlanta).

TIGHT ENDS (4)
Tyler Eifert, Cincinnati
Rob Gronkowski, New England (replaced by Gary Barnidge, Cleveland)
Travis Kelce, Kansas City
Greg Olsen, Carolina (replaced by Delanie Walker, Tennessee)

WIDE RECEIVERS (8)
Odell Beckham, Jr., New York Giants
Antonio Brown, Pittsburgh
Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona (replaced by T.Y. Hilton, Indianapolis)
A.J. Green, Cincinnati
DeAndre Hopkins, Houston
Calvin Johnson, Detroit (replaced by Allen Robinson, Jacksonville)
Julio Jones, Atlanta
Brandon Marshall, New York Jets (replaced by Amari Cooper, Oakland)

TACKLES (6)
Tyron Smith, Dallas
Joe Staley, San Francisco
Joe Thomas, Cleveland
Andrew Whitworth, Cincinnati
Trent Williams, Washington
Jason Peters, Philadelphia (replaced by Kyle Long, Chicago)

GUARDS (6)
David DeCastro, Pittsburgh
Mike Iupati, Arizona (replaced by Richie Incognito, Buffalo)
Josh Sitton, Green Bay
Trai Turner, Carolina (replaced by Logan Mankins, Tampa Bay)
Marshal Yanda, Baltimore
Zack Martin, Dallas

CENTERS (4)
Travis Frederick, Dallas
Ryan Kalil, Carolina (replaced by Eric Wood, Buffalo)
Mike Pouncey, Miami
Alex Mack, Cleveland

DEFENSIVE ENDS (6)
Ezekiel Ansah, Detroit
Michael Bennett, Seattle
Chandler Jones, New England
Khalil Mack, Oakland
J.J. Watt, Houston (replaced by Everson Griffen, Minnesota)
Muhammad Wilkerson, New York Jets (replaced by Carlos Dunlap, Cincinnati)

INTERIOR LINEMEN (6)
Geno Atkins, Cincinnati
Calais Campbell, Arizona
Fletcher Cox, Philadelphia
Aaron Donald, St. Louis
Gerald McCoy, Tampa Bay
Kawann Short, Carolina (replaced by Jurrell Casey, Tennessee)

INSIDE/MIDDLE LINEBACKERS (4)
Navorro Bowman, San Francisco
Luke Kuechly, Carolina (replaced by Derrick Johnson, Kansas City)
Clay Matthews, Green Bay
Bobby Wagner, Seattle

OUTSIDE LINEBACKERS (6)
Jamie Collins, New England (replaced by Anthony Barr, Minnesota)
Thomas Davis, Carolina (replaced by Elvis Dumervil, Baltimore)
Tamba Hali, Kansas City
Justin Houston, Kansas City (replaced by Sean Lee, Dallas)
Von Miller, Denver (replaced by Julius Peppers, Green Bay)
DeMarcus Ware, Denver (replaced by Lavonte David, Tampa Bay)

CORNERBACKS (8)
Chris Harris, Jr., Denver (replaced by Vontae Davis, Indianapolis)
Josh Norman, Carolina (replaced by Desmond Trufant, Atlanta)
Marcus Peters, Kansas City
Patrick Peterson, Arizona (replaced by Adam Jones, Cincinnati)
Darrelle Revis, New York Jets
Richard Sherman, Seattle
Aqib Talib, Denver (replaced by Brent Grimes, Miami)
Malcolm Butler, New England (replaced by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, New York Giants)

FREE SAFETIES (3)
Tyrann Mathieu, Arizona (replaced by Malcolm Jenkins, Philadelphia)
Reggie Nelson, Cincinnati (replaced by Reshad Jones, Miami)
Earl Thomas, Seattle (replaced by Harrison Smith, Minnesota)

STRONG SAFETIES (3)
Eric Berry, Kansas City
Kam Chancellor, Seattle (replaced by Mike Adams, Indianapolis)
Charles Woodson, Oakland

PUNTERS (2)
Sam Koch, Baltimore
Johnny Hekker, St. Louis

RETURN SPECIALISTS (2)
Tyler Lockett, Seattle
Darren Sproles, Philadelphia

PLACEKICKERS (2)
Dan Bailey, Dallas
Stephen Gostkowski, New England (replaced by Josh Brown, New York Giants)

SPECIAL TEAMERS (2)
Justin Bethel, Arizona
Matthew Slater, New England (replaced by Cedric Peerman, Cincinnati)

Many people have bitched about this "diluted" roster. They are probably the same people that bitched about several players being snubbed in the voting process. Now those snubbed players are in the game. When the Pro Bowl was moved to the Sunday before the Super Bowl everyone knew that 10-20, maybe more, players were going to be skipping the exhibition game simply because they are playing the big game. Why is it suddenly a problem now? I guess that some people just want to bitch. This is an exhibition game. It's supposed to be fun. I always found it mind-numbing that anyone could possibly expect the Pro Bowl to be anything but a fun exhibition game.

The Minnesota Vikings originally had only one player tapped for the Pro Bowl. Adrian Peterson. A single player is a pretty light number for a team that finished 11-5 and won the NFC North. After the flurry of replacements the number of Vikings players has jumped to 5.

Adrian Peterson, RB
Teddy Bridgewater, QB
Everson Griffen, DE
Anthony Barr, LB
Harrison Smith, S

The Pro Bowl nod for Bridgewater is a little early but what the hell. It's supposed to be fun. Smith, Barr, and Griffen are deserving. Smith has been deserving for a couple of years. Defensive tackle Linval Joseph should be going to Hawaii with the above teammates. He's probably the most deserving Vikings player not named Peterson.

The Pro Bowl is fun. And it's in Hawaii.