Is this the move to save the Pro Bowl?

Everyone's favorite football game is getting tweaked with yet again this season. Except this time the NFL teamed up with the NFLPA and made more than just venue or date changes. They gave the Pro Bowl a revamping.

Three tweets in three minutes from Adam Schefter unveiled the changes that had been made


Usually when something ain't broke, you don't fix it. Clearly the "Fantasy Bowl" has now been broken for some time. Sure, the TV ratings may not suggest that but the fact remains that it is a glorified preseason game and we all know how much we hate those. The players don't even want to be playing football at that point anyways.Yet as a fan I can certainly appreciate this attempt at spicing things up this year.

Riding the coattails of the NHL All Star game, the NFL has decided to scrap the conference battle that had taken place for over 40 years and replace it with a fantasy draft. We all know how much we love those.  To make it even better the NFL selected two honorary Hall of Fame captains to chose the teams.

Yup, "World" and "Showtime" get to make the selections this year in what is sure to be a televised event that even Sweet Brown could make time for.  I just hope the NFL doesn't spread it out over 4 nights like the collegiate draft in April. Although if you have ever watched the NFL Network you know Deion could probably keep us entertained all the way through it.

Admittedly these changes should spark more interest in the game and if not at least build the hype leading up to the game itself. Schefter's last tweet confirmed that the game would be played in the off week before the Super Bowl which reminds us all of the true problems with the "Fantasy Bowl". The players want to go to Hawaii but not play football, they just did that for close to 6 months. They don't want to get hurt or hurt another player and because of this we see the lack of defense and hustle leading to bad football to watch.

The way the game is played on the field will probably never change no matter when or where you play it. These athletes are worth a lot of money and risking it in a meaningless exhibition game wouldn't be financially responsible of them. So what I would do is bring back a combine type competition. If Chris Johnson, Michael Vick, RG3 and Adrian Peterson faced off in a 40 yard dash people would want to watch. Imagine Vince Wilfork and Haloti Ngata bench pressing against each other. Something along those lines would work when you consider how popular the actual draft combine is with the TV viewing audience.

I would honestly rather watch the All Stars play a mic'd up round of golf in Hawaii than witness the no defense, backyard slinging brand of football that the Pro Bowl has become. Maybe Tony Romo would finally win something. That brand does however bring up an interesting question about the pass happy direction the NFL is heading in but that is a discussion for another day.


Frank Cypriano
@JulioFranko17



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