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On Wednesday, the NFL revealed which players will be representing the AFC and NFC in the Pro Bowl. Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. did not end up making the cut, and his dad made it clear he was not thrilled with that development.
It took much longer than it probably should have for the NFL to admit the Pro Bowl is a virtually pointless affair, as it opted to pivot to a skills competition in 2023 after years of impressively underwhelming full-contact games between the opposing conferences (although the switch didn’t exactly cause television ratings to skyrocket).
With that said, being selected to the Pro Bowl is still an honor for players who receive a solid check for making the roster, get an excuse to spend a few days chilling in a warm vacation destination, and can use their selection as leverage while negotiating a new contract.
Coaches, players, and fans all get a say when it comes to determining who gets named to the Pro Bowl, and while the people who fall under those first two umbrellas tend to know a thing or two about football, the voting can turn into a bit of a popularity contest thanks to the role that third group plays.
This year, Seattle’s Julian Love and Arizona’s Budda Baker were named the two starting strong safeties for the NFC at the Pro Bowl. However, the father of Tampa Bay’s Antonie Winfield Jr. doesn’t seem to think the second man earned the honor—and it’s kind of hard to blame him when you take a look at the stats.
Love has four interceptions and two forced fumbles over the course of the current campaign, but Baker has posted a goose egg in both of those columns.
As Greg Auman of Fox Sports notes, Winfield has three picks and has forced the defense to cough the ball up five times in addition to an edge over Baker in other key categories, and the safety’s dad called attention to that reality in an Instagram post where he dubbed the perceived snub “bulls–.”
It’s hard to argue he doesn’t have a point.