This year’s Pro Bowl voting and initial rosters showed us quite a few things about the Kansas City Chiefs—even as we say they are meaningless.
Every year, the same dismissive statements are made about the Pro Bowl.
The National Football League’s annual attempt to put on an exhibition of its best and brightest somehow always ends up the subject of ridicule—the answer to smarmy questions like, “What event generates more meaningless headlines than anything else in sports?” Every year, dozens of players pass on an event in which fans favor popularity over performance in their votes. As for the game itself, how often do you want to watch flag football or capture the flag? I thought so.
Yet for something thrown away so easily, this year’s Pro Bowl voting can also teach us quite a few things about our favorite team. As I watched the rosters being revealed, several ideas occurred to me that might not have done so if I’d not paid attention to something deemed as trivial.
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There’s no real order here or even a theme at work. Rather, there’s just a series of musings about the Kansas City Chiefs and what the 2019 Pro Bowl votes can teach us about them:
A bona fide star
If I mention Russell Wilson in my house, my wife will ask if he’s the guy who worked on our car. If I correct her and say he’s a professional quarterback, she will nod and agree, “Oh yeah, that guy!”
The same would be true of, say, Alex Smith or Trent Green or other such quarterback options in the Chiefs past. That’s not true this year or any year moving forward for what is hopefully a very, very long time. Kansas City has a household name under center for the first time in a long time, a real bona fide star in the way that Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers are stars.
This isn’t about performance. This is about persona. And this Pro Bowl vote is one of the first real pieces of evidence that will begin to link Mahomes’ name with the biggest stars in the game. He’s now a starting quarterback in the Pro Bowl for the AFC. Tom Brady and Philip Rivers will back him up.
That doesn’t matter on the field, but it matters plenty off of it.
The Chiefs have a very real star on their hands, a bright light that orients the team northward. And as bright as he is, he helps reveal other stars in the Chiefs’ sky as well—creating a constellation of marketable products around other incredible talents like Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill and whoever else emerges in this regularly-scheduled-in-primetime offense.
This is great news on a number of levels. It means the Chiefs are never going to stop having money to spend for a very long time. It means other players will want to come to K.C. in the same way they want to play with the other true greats at the position. It means the Chiefs have a real spotlight on them for the foreseeable future. There will no more complaints about being ignored in the national media. If anything, the nation will get tired of hearing Mahomes’ name.
But it all starts here, the postseason before the cereal brand and the ketchup deal and the myriad other endorsements to come. Brady will come into the game only when Mahomes is done. Get used to it.
Charisma doesn’t help after all
Chris Jones is a Pro Bowl snub, yes. Multiple columns will already be written saying this much. But what’s interesting here is that he shouldn’t be a snub because he did it all correctly—not just on the field but off of it.
The Chiefs defensive lineman ranks third in the NFL in total sacks with 14. That’s an incredible number that not only leads the Chiefs, who also have Dee Ford ranked in the NFL’s top pass rushers, but it sits right alongside the Von Millers and Aaron Donalds of the NFL. He’s also put up a sack in each of the last 10 games for the Chiefs, tying an NFL record in the process.
But every year, someone putting up a great season, even with great numbers, ends up greatly ignored. That’s why they call it a snub.
But Jones has been doing the work off the field—or at least doing what he should be beyond his performances. Jones is active on social media and interactive with fans. He’s always an enjoyable interview and isn’t afraid to let his personality shine in a number of ways. Before the season, he even claimed he wanted to lead the NFL in sacks and didn’t shy away from his hopes for doing just that.
Typically fans will reward that kind of charm and charisma. Fans tend to like a little chest-thumping here and there, a spark of personality in the midst of what can often be boring coach-speak or player-speak in the locker room or at media sessions with reporters. Jones is endearing and exciting, delightful and dominating. That’s an ideal combination for a player looking to earn some respect. For some reason, despite his incredible run, Jones still hasn’t earned the attention of the casual fan.
[Note: What makes this even more silly is the perfect candidate to dump is right there in Melvin Ingram, a player who has enjoyed an above average season. Joey Bosa has had a better year overall and he missed the first half or more for the Chargers. The whole thing is silly.]
[Another note: Almost this entire section could also be applied to Mitchell Schwartz, who has proven quite accessible on Twitter.]
The trade that keeps on giving
Javier Arenas hasn’t played in an NFL game in four full years, since December 2014.
Anthony Sherman just made his first Pro Bowl.
On May 1, 2013, general manager John Dorsey flipped Arenas, a return man and backup cornerback, to the Arizona Cardinals for Sherman. Six full seasons later, the man affectionately known as “Sausage” just made his first Pro Bowl and remains a fan favorite in K.C.
This move by Dorsey has long been tilted toward the Chiefs favor, but this adds some extra salt to it all. A savvy move to grab a player who has turned himself into an important fixture for the Chiefs offense and special teams.