The NFL won’t announce their Pro Bowl teams for the 2015 season until next week, but Pro Football Focus has, and, honestly, that may be a better judgement of this year’s best players; PFF’s team won’t actually get to play in any game, but it’s probably more indicative of who’s been the best players in the NFL this season.
And according to PFF, the three Broncos that played well enough to earn a spot on their Pro Bowl team were Von Miller, Chris Harris Jr. and Brandon Marshall, none of which should come as much of a surprise.
Defensively, Miller’s 45.3 grade is the sixth highest in the league; his only real detractor is the -6.0 penalty grade he’s earned this season.
Similarly, Harris has continued his role as one of the NFL’s truly elite cornerbacks with a 16.4 grade, only trailing Tyrann Mathieu and Josh Norman; if he maintains his positioning, this will be the fourth straight season Harris will finish in the top six of PFF’s cornerback rankings.
For Marshall, though, his inclusion may be most impressive of all; after being drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars, Marshall bounced around the NFL for his first two seasons before suddenly becoming the Broncos’ leading tackler in 2014 and a Pro Bowl caliber player in 2015.
Evan Mathis (6), Malik Jackson (10), Derek Wolfe (9) and Brandon McManus (4), all of which are ranked inside the top 10 for their respective positions, just missed the cut.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the real Pro Bowl, the Denver Broncos aren’t getting nearly as much respect. As we covered a few weeks ago, despite having the best defense in the NFL, the Broncos are having a hard time getting anybody into football’s All-Star game.
As of the last early voting results, the Broncos only had 10 players ranked in the top ten for their position, and none were higher than third; for comparison, the Patriots have 10 players ranked either first or second for their respective position.
While it seems as if the NFL and its fans are underrating the Pro Bowl caliber players on Denver’s roster, hopefully it won’t matter in the end; you don’t need to play in the Pro Bowl when you’re preparing for a Super Bowl.
