NFL announces end of the Pro Bowl − but it was already dead
NFL announces end of the Pro Bowl − but it was already dead
Nate Davis, USA TODAYWed, August 26, 2026 at 11:20 PM UTC
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Apparently a Pro Bowl, well, event that included Joe Flacco and Shedeur Sanders was a bridge too far.
The NFL will officially eliminate the Pro Bowl as a competition and simply apply the honorific to deserving players, many of whom have contract escalators for being named a Pro Bowler. The league made the announcement Wednesday, Aug. 26. The move also aligns with the NFL's ongoing initiatives to emphasize player safety. Playing an all-star exhibition, in any form, didn't square nicely with that objective.
Moving forward, the AFC and NFC rosters will continue to be constructed with 44 players apiece. However with no need for last-minute replacements, there won't be a dilution to the honor that had become so commonplace in recent years. Players, coaches and fans will continue to annually supply equally weighted votes to determine the 88 Pro Bowlers.
“The Pro Bowl has always been about recognizing the players who distinguish themselves as the very best in the NFL,” said Peter O’Reilly, the NFL's EVP of club business, international and league events.
“A Pro Bowl selection will return to its original purpose, honoring the best of the best. We want that distinction to carry even greater meaning for the players, their families, their clubs and our fans.”
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That will apparently include a currently undefined way of recognizing a player's Pro Bowl achievement on his uniform.
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Pro Bowl format has changed significantly through years
A pure Pro Bowl had not been played since 2021. The league tried an eSports format during the COVID-19 pandemic following the 2020 campaign and had shifted to a "Pro Bowl Games" alternative in recent years that was significantly less likely to cause players serious injuries.
Still, the NFL's biggest stars routinely accepted Pro Bowl status yet avoided any kind of actual on-field participation, some begging off with injuries and/or surgeries, others often unavailable due to the Super Bowl or late playoff runs once the Pro Bowl format du jour was moved ahead of Super Sunday on the calendar (in 2010) rather than being played − with a free trip for the family to Hawaii, where the game was almost always staged from 1980 through 2016 − afterward. Playing in Honolulu also afforded an opportunity for younger and older players and their families to mingle in a somewhat more private environment that was harder to replicate when the Pro Bowl was held on the mainland.
“This direction came directly from our continued conversations with players and what they value most about the Pro Bowl,” said Troy Vincent, the NFL's EVP of football operations.
“Being selected by your peers, coaches and fans as one of the very best at your position carries tremendous meaning. We heard clearly that the distinction matters, and our focus is on making the recognition that comes with it worthy of what these players accomplished on the field.”
Earlier this year in San Francisco, the NFC defeated the AFC 66-52 in a flag game staged at the Moscone Center, a downtown convention space but not a venue intended for football. Flacco, 41, a Super Bowl MVP 13 years ago but now a journeyman backup who'd never previously been a Pro Bowler, and Sanders, a rookie in 2025 who had an uneven − at best − first NFL season wound up playing for the AFC as replacements after a season in which they were Cleveland Browns teammates. Sanders played in eight games for the last-place Browns in 2025 and ended the year with seven touchdown passes and 10 interceptions. Flacco, who was benched in Cleveland so the team could assess Sanders and fellow rookie QB Dillon Gabriel, ended the year with the Cincinnati Bengals and filled in for injured star Joe Burrow, though he also wound up participating in the Pro Bowl despite missing more than half the season. (It was also a good opportunity for Burrow, who's shown aspirations to play flag football for Team USA in the 2028 Olympics, to hone his skills in a format foreign to NFL football.)
None of the AFC quarterbacks initially named to the roster in 2025 (Josh Allen, Justin Herbert and Drake Maye) played in the game, though league MVP runner-up Maye was in the process of preparing to start in Super Bowl 60 with the New England Patriots.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL announces end of the Pro Bowl − but it was already dead
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