Steelers Candid about Honor of Pro Bowl Selection: ‘I Didn’t Really Have Anything Else Going On’
ORLANDO, Fla. — Being invited to attend the NFL Pro Bowl is an honor. Or at least, it’s supposed to be. For a couple of members of the Pittsburgh Steelers, their Pro Bowl selections this season come with a bit of an asterisk.
The annual all-star game is selected by a combination of fan, player and coach votes leading to an initial rosters of 44 players per conference.
Then, as always in the physical sport of football, injuries happen. Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt, still nursing the ankle injury that hobbled him down the stretch run, was one of a number of players to pull out with physical ailments. The league elects alternates as part of the initial process, so some players are on stand-by, waiting for a call to see if they’ll be invited to the game.
That process kicks into high gear after the conference championship games, when the Super Bowl participants are also removed from the Pro Bowl rosters. In the AFC this year, that meant that tight end Travis Kelce, offensive linemen Joe Thuney, Trey Smith and Creed Humphrey and defensive lineman Chris Jones.
The guard position, with two Chiefs selected, was extremely hard-hit. Indianapolis Colts guard Quenton Nelson is in Orlando as the lone selected starter. Quinn Meinerz of the Denver Broncos, the first selected alternate, declined to participate.
Joel Bitonio of the Cleveland Browns and Isaac Seumalo of the Steelers were both selected as replacement alternates, filling in for the pair of Chiefs guards. Neither player had anything approaching their best season in 2024.
Seumalo has had an outstanding career, winning a Super Bowl and playing in another in his seven years with the Philadelphia Eagles before joining the Steelers in 2023. The Pro Bowl had, to this point escaped him. But he acknowledged the bit of irony that his first trip will be as the replacement to a replacement.
“I’m really only here because, you know, three or four guys couldn’t be here,” Seumalo said frankly before AFC practice on Saturday. “So, I mean, it’s still really cool and, an honor. But, you know, I guess I’ll take the fourth or fifth place here.”
Meinerz said that he didn’t want to attend as an alternate because he felt slighted by not being picked the first time around. Asked why he was willing to attend, Seumalo was point-blank about his reasoning.
“I didn’t have really anything else going on,” he said. “You know, it was snowing in Pittsburgh, so I thought I’d try to get some good weather.”
Others have taken umbrage at the idea that fifth-place finishers should be honored in such a way. Especially now that the game doesn’t even include actual football. The players partake in a two-day skills contest before a 7-on-7 flag football game on Sunday.
J.J. Watt, the brother of the Steelers linebacker who pulled out, suggested an alternate name for the diminished honor of the game without so many of its stars.
“When you get 5 alternates deep, just call it the Participation Bowl,” he said on X.
Others were more earnest when asked about the seriousness of the honor.
Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson, who replaced injured Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, called being selected a blessing.
“I remember being here my rookie year and being around guys like Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Peyton and Eli Manning,” Wilson said to the Associated Press. “And I remember how grateful I was. Ten Pro Bowls later, it’s still a blessing.”
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