When Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Michael Irvin select their "All-Star teams" Wednesday night in the Pro Bowl Draft (7:30pm ET, ESPN2), their list of players to choose from will look very different than the one they may have originally thought they'd have.
Of the 86 players originally selected to play in the Pro Bowl, 42 of them are being replaced, according to NFL.com. That number includes 14 players from the Broncos and Panthers, who square off in Super Bowl 50 in less than two weeks.
It's not just the number that's astounding - it's the names of players that won't be seen on the field at Aloha Stadium in Hawaii that makes you shake your head.
Out of the six quarterbacks originally selected to play in the game, five of them will not (Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers, Carson Palmer and Tom Brady all for injuries; Cam Newton for playing in the Super Bowl). Russell Wilson is the lone voted-in holdout. They're being replaced with Eli Manning, Jameis Winston, Tyrod Taylor, Derek Carr and Teddy Bridgewater. With the possible exception of Manning, the tier of replacements falls just a step below the tier of originals.
The wide receiving corps remains strong, despite the losses of Brandon Marshall, Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald and Antonio Brown, all from injury; they're replaced by T.Y. Hilton, Amari Cooper, Allen Robinson and Jarvis Landry.
The top two tight ends, Greg Olsen and Rob Gronkowski, have both been replaced with of Delanie Walker, Travis Kelce, Tyler Eifert and Gary Barnidge, now carrying the tight-ends torch.
On the defensive side, arguably the most feared player in the game, J.J. Watt, will not play either despite being selected to his fourth straight Pro Bowl. He underwent groin surgery following the Texans' Wild Card playoff loss to the Chiefs two weeks ago. Vikings' defensive end Everson Griffen will replace Watt on the roster, according to a report from Alex Marvez of FOX Sports, via Pro Football Talk.
This loss of talent in the game probably won't help the NFL in the ratings department much either. The Pro Bowl ratings, while consistently ahead of most NBA and Major League Baseball telecasts, have dropped in 2 consecutive years (7.7 in 2013, 6.7 in 2014, 5.6 in 2015), according to a report from Karp, via Yahoo Sports.
