3 Bengals players most deserving of making the Pro Bowl
- Hendrickson has been a beast
- Chase is a household name and putting up crazy stats
- CTB is injured but deserves to make it
Being voted into the Pro Bowl is far from the most prestigious award that can be bestowed upon an NFL player and is considered by many to be more of a popularity contest than anything. Getting selected to an All-Pro team is far more indicative of how good a player actually is than being a Pro Bowler. Still, it’s always nice to see a Bengal be recognized league-wide for their play.
Now, I could probably name half a dozen or more Bengals who deserve to make the Pro Bowl but 1. that’s a little biased of me, and 2. I wanted to narrow it down to the three most deserving names that have a realistic shot at being voted in. So, a quick honorable mention for Germaine Pratt, Logan Wilson, both quarterbacks with the initials JB, D.J. Reader, Mike Hilton, and B.J. Hill
With that out of the way, here are the three Bengals most deserving of making the Pro Bowl.
All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference.
Trey Hendrickson
Trey Hendrickson should not only pretty much be a shoo-in for the Pro Bowl, but he also should be an All-Pro for the first time in his seven-year career. He is having the best season of his career this year, already besting his previous season-high for sacks set in 2021 through 15 weeks, and is currently tied for third in sacks as I write this. The former Saint is also currently on a six-game streak of having at least half a sack so he’s becoming more dominant down the stretch as the games matter more.
More importantly, Hendrickson has been the driving force for Cincy’s pass rush unit. Sam Hubbard and B.J. Hill notably have contributed as well, but when Hendrickson is off (which has been rare this year), then it feels like no one can get to the quarterback. Consistently, the veteran edge rusher has been the most important and impactful player on this defense and always seems to come up with the big-time play when the Bengals need it to close out a game.
With the year that Hendrickson is having, he is easily one of– if not the most deserving Bengal to make the Pro Bowl.
Ja’Marr Chase
Considering everything I said before about the Pro Bowl being a ‘popularity contest’ to many, Chase is by far the most likely candidate to be voted in for the Bengals. He, along with Burrow, is probably the most popular Bengals player across the league, so I fully expect him to make his third-straight Pro Bowl. It won’t be undeserved, as he once again cracked 1,000 receiving yards and had a bunch of big games (notably against the NFC West and Jacksonville).
