Kansas City Chiefs: Six Players Make Pro Bowl
The 2016 Pro Bowl Draft is over and the teams are set for the Irvin – Rice clash in Hawaii taking place Sunday. Overall, six members of the Kansas City Chiefs were invited to the Pro Bowl.
These six Chiefs were Justin Houston, Tamba Hali, Derrick Johnson, Eric Berry and first time Pro Bowlers Travis Kelce and rookie sensation Marcus Peters. Only five will be participating though, as Houston had to decline due to injury.
On team Irvin, we have one of the biggest cogs in the Chiefs smothering defense, and that is four time Pro-Bowler Derrick Johnson. Johnson came in to this season overcoming a season ending injury as well as fighting the critics declaring that age is catching up with him.
By seasons end, he produced one of his most dominant seasons which made him an obvious choice to the Pro-Bowl. After the heartbreaking loss to the New England Patriots, he declared that he is a “Chief”, which hopefully points to him in a Kansas City Chiefs jersey next season after a new contract is agreed upon.
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On the other side is team Rice, who boasts four of the six Chiefs Pro Bowlers.
Tamba Hali, who is coming off of another excellent season despite battling a swollen knee and a broken thumb, was able to record 6.5 sacks and two forced fumbles. Hali is also eligible to be a free agent at the end of the season, but he said that he needs to get healthy and be confident that he can play at a high level before he can commit to another season (displayed in the link above).
That could point to possible retirement or one last run in a Chiefs uniform for the former first round pick. Hali was part of a tremendous defense that was the life and swagger of the Chiefs, but Marcus Peters was the young blood that brought the fire to the soul of this team.
Marcus Peters, a rookie out of Washington from the first play of the season, was a play maker racking up eight interceptions. He has already received many awards this season and should be a front runner for the Defensive Rookie of the Year award.
Peters may have been the fire, but Eric Berry was the soul of the Chiefs defense this season after being diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma. Berry received treatments and was cancer free right before camp.
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This season has been one of his best and he has been an inspiration for people and players across the league. With his contract being done at the end of the season, people know the Chiefs may not be able to retain him without paying a lot of money, but it would be sad to see Berry in another jersey next season.
Another big play maker is third year tight end Travis Kelce. He is a big man in the middle of the field that quarterback Alex Smith can have confidence in. In 2015, he was second in the NFL with YAC which shows that he has good hands but his ability to get yards after the catch is a big reason why he is in Hawaii right now.
The last player to be chosen was Justin Houston, but due to the injury to his knee he elected to bow out and was replaced with Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee.
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All six of these players showed heart for the Chiefs in 2015 and while they might not all return to Kansas City in 2016, it was one hell of a ride for these guys.