By Jordan Long
The NFL Pro Bowl isn’t until January 29th in Orlando, Florida. The players voted into the Pro Bowl will be announced next Tuesday. Besides a new format of AFC vs. NFC they are adding a skills competition as part of the festivities.
Since 2007, the Pro Bowl game itself was the only sporting event scheduled for the NFL Pro Bowl weekend. Before 2007 there was a skills competition for the players. These included a 40-yard dash run, how accurate quarterbacks were throwing the ball, longest kick, and how much a player could bench press. They also had a maze for wide receivers and running backs to run through to see who could do it the fastest. Now to generate more interest, they will have a skills challenge.
The events will be dodgeball, relay challenge, precision passing, and best hands. These will be held on Thursday January 26th at the site of the Pro Bowl. According to ESPN, the athletes in this will be a mix of quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, offensive linemen, and defensive backs.
The relay race is the one to watch. This will show who the fastest runner and the slowest runner are in the league. Precision passing will give the fans an idea of who the most accurate passer is by hitting targets.
The one challenge that I am not looking forward to is dodgeball. These players might throw the ball hard and hurt another athlete by accident. They could step wrong and could tear an ACL. There needs to be rules to prevent that.
On paper this seems like a great idea. Football is the only All-Star Game without a skills challenge but now they have one. Basketball and hockey have the Saturday night before the game for skills, while baseball has the home run derby. It was long overdue to add this to the NFL All-Star Game. If the skills competition is successful this season, they should have it for future Pro Bowls.
How do you feel about the Pro Bowl adding a skill competition?
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