When the Pro Bowl rosters were originally announced, the Minnesota Vikings had four players named to the roster. All three were rock-solid selections, although there were a few "snubs". Safety Harrison Smith, RB Dalvin Cook, and DE Danielle Hunter were the original three. Safety Anthony Harris, LB Eric Kendricks, and QB Kirk Cousins were the snubs.
In the past week, the NFL has been naming replacements for players who have withdrawn due to injury or Super Bowl participation. The Vikings representation has benefited greatly. A couple wrongs were righted; Kirk Cousins and Eric Kendricks will be headed to the game (although Anthony Harris was probably the most blatant snub, and is still not in). Along with those two, fullback C.J. Ham, DE Everson Griffen, and- you're not gonna believe this- CB Xavier Rhodes were named as replacements. While Ham is rock-solid and Griffen is understandable, any Vikings fan could tell you that Rhodes was not very good this year. Not merely not good, but pretty terrible, really. While Rhodes was an elite corner a couple years ago, his performance took a nose-dive this year. Nevertheless, Rhodes will be able to call himself a 2019 NFL Pro-Bowler.
While it was unfortunate that Anthony Harris didn't get the recognition he deserved, I'm sure he'll sleep soundly knowing he is going to get paid this off-season. Speaking of the off-season, I wonder if any Pro-Bowlers have ever been cut in the off-season immediately after an appearance in the game. If not, Xavier Rhodes could soon be the sole answer to this unfortunate piece of trivia.
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