Once upon a time, the NFL Pro Bowl used to be among the highest honors a player could receive. But after countless star players opted out of the 2025 Pro Bowl Games on Sunday, perennial Pro Bowler turned CBS NFL analyst JJ Watt mocked the lack of importance the event holds these days.
23 players listed on the original Pro Bowl rosters have already opted out of the game due to either injury or what seems to be a general lack of interest in playing in the game.
The lack of star power is perhaps most noticeable when you look at the quarterbacks on the AFC’s Pro Bowl roster. Both Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen have opted out of playing in the game. And when asked, C.J. Stroud declined an invite to take part as a replacement, which was first reported by Texans beat reporter DJ Bien Aime on X.
Don’t expect #Texans QB C.J. Stroud to be at the Pro Bowl.
He was invited as an alternate but declined per source.
I think this is the start of an offseason of him putting his head down and getting to work.
— DJ Bien-Aime (@Djbienaime) January 27, 2025
The result? Russell Wilson and Drake Maye were named as alternates on the AFC roster for Allen and Jackson.
While both Maye and Wilson had their moments this season, you would be hard-pressed to find many who think that either deserves to be playing in the game based solely on their performances this year.
JJ Watt has taken notice of the many players dropping out of the Pro Bowl Games, taking to social media on Tuesday and suggesting that the game should be called the “Participation Bowl” due to a vast majority of the top-tier talent dropping out of the game.
“When you get 5 alternates deep, just call it the Participation Bowl,” wrote Watt on X.
When you get 5 alternates deep, just call it the Participation Bowl.
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) January 28, 2025
Recent Pro Bowl audiences would seem to support Watt’s new title. Viewership for All-Star festivities in all professional sports leagues has suffered in recent years. But the impact has perhaps been most drastic when you look at the NFL’s Pro Bowl Games which brought in an average of just 5.793 million viewers across the ESPN family of networks in 2024.
This marks the lowest number of viewers that the NFL has ever received for a Pro Bowl outside of 2021’s virtual “Pro Bowl Celebration,” which didn’t feature a game due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The harsh truth of the matter is that most fans no longer care about the Pro Bowl due to the change in format, or maybe because they’re simply being oversaturated with football content. And as a result, players no longer seem to care to take time out of their offseason to participate.
