The 49ers are sending six players to the Pro Bowl this season, but Dre Greenlaw isn’t one of them. Instead, he joins the list of significant Niners snubs.
Only a handful of teams this year were good enough to send at least five players to the annual Pro Bowl, which won’t be quite like previous Pro Bowls in that the 2023 installment will be more about flag football than a watered-down blue-versus-red awkwardness we all tried to avoid.
At any rate, the San Francisco 49ers were one of those few teams, ultimately sending six players to the Pro Bowl, which will be held leading up to that flag football game on Sunday, Feb. 5 a week before the Super Bowl.
The Niners have the following players named to the 2023 Pro Bowl:
- FB Kyle Juszczyk
- OT Trent Williams
- TE George Kittle
- DE Nick Bosa
- LB Fred Warner
- S Talanoa Hufanga
For Juszczyk and Williams, the Pro Bowl is essentially automatic. Meanwhile, Kittle, Bosa and Warner are no strangers to the NFL all-star game either.
Hufanga was a bit of a revelation, but he’s played more than well enough to justify the selection.
There were, however, some notable snubs from the Pro Bowl, and we take a look at a few of them here.
49ers Pro Bowl snub No. 4: LB Dre Greenlaw
Granted, only two middle linebackers from the NFC could make it, and the Niners already sent one in Warner.
The other backer selected is the New Orleans Saints’ Demario Davis, and while that’s not a terrible selection at all, it’s hard not including Warner’s linemate, Dre Greenlaw, who has been playing about as well as any other middle backer in the league right now.
Warner included.
Congrats to all the Pro Bowl selections, including the six 49ers (Juszczyk, Kittle, Williams, Bosa, Warner, Hufanga) who made it. Others (C. Ward, McCaffrey, Deebo, Jimmy G, Gould) had a strong case. Dre Greenlaw not making it is ridiculous.
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) December 22, 2022
About the only thing separating Greenlaw from Davis is the fact the latter offers up more in the pass-rush department and has 6.5 on the year, while Greenlaw is a coverage linebacker and run-stopper.
Perhaps there’ll be some alternatives, and that could get Greenlaw in, and Davis definitely has better name recognition than Greenlaw (Pro Bowl voting matters, people).
Still, Greenlaw is enjoying a top-five linebacker kind of year in 2022, and he deserved to be recognized.
49ers Pro Bowl snub No. 3: QB Jimmy Garoppolo
Alright, fans of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, you might have an argument here.
The three NFC quarterbacks named to the Pro Bowl this year were the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts, an MVP candidate, the Minnesota Vikings’ Kirk Cousins, who always puts up big-time stats, and the Seattle Seahawks’ Geno Smith, who is having a career-resurgent year and is a nice story (even if he plays for San Francisco’s rival).
This is where disagreeing with the system comes into play, as it’d be hard to remove any of those three from the Pro Bowl, but adding a fourth signal-caller (it’s the most important position on the field, after all) might have been the way to go.
Toss Garoppolo into that spot, will you?
Sure, the stats aren’t eye-popping in comparison to the numbers of someone like Cousins or even Smith. However, considering Garoppolo has not only dropped his interception percentage down to 1.3, a career low, and also posted a career-best 103.0 passer rating as a starter, it’s fair to consider him a snub.
Especially when one also accounts for the tremendously awkward offseason he endured, followed by being asked to come in and relieve starting quarterback Trey Lance way back in Week 2 when Lance was lost for the year to an ankle injury.
Yes, Garoppolo deserves a lot of credit for the 49ers’ season turnaround, and he should have been recognized for it all.
49ers Pro Bowl snub No. 2: RB Christian McCaffrey
This is another case where the stats don’t do a player justice. In the case of All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey, his 2022 numbers are also skewed by the fact he spent the first half of the season with the offensively challenged Carolina Panthers.
That sort of cut both ways, though, as he was only one of a few weapons there before joining forces with the Niners on a weapon-laden offense.
However, McCaffrey’s impact on San Francisco is undeniable. Aside from his first game being a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs (he’d been on the 49ers for mere days at that point), the Niners haven’t lost since and won seven in a row.
Read More: Christian McCaffrey ultimately saved Niners’ season
During that span, McCaffrey has added 534 yards rushing and four touchdowns, 346 yards receiving and three touchdowns and he’s also completed a touchdown pass, too. Remember that touchdown-trifecta game against the Los Angeles Rams?
Yeah, that game alone should have been worthy of a Pro Bowl nod.
Instead, McCaffrey is a snub despite revitalizing San Francisco’s offense.
49ers Pro Bowl snub No. 1: CB Charvarius Ward
Much like Christian McCaffrey, cornerback Charvarius Ward turned around what was previously a weakness and made it a strength.
Only for the 49ers’ defensive backfield, it was a weakness stemming from last year.
Ward’s presence as the team’s No. 1 cornerback has made a massive difference in turning the Niners defense overall into the top unit within the NFL. No longer just strong within the front seven, Ward has solidified the secondary, too, and now San Francisco can claim to be strong at all three levels.
Why Ward wasn’t named to the Pro Bowl, though, is anyone’s guess. Particularly after recording 76 tackles, breaking up 11 passes, forcing a fumble and recovering a fumble.
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Sure, fan voters love interceptions, and Ward has only one of those so far. But, allowing opposing quarterbacks a passer rating of just 79.1 is a quality job.
Instead, voters sent the Eagles’ Darius Slay, the Seahawks’ Tariq Woolen, the Dallas Cowboys’ Trevon Diggs and the Green Bay Packers’ Jaire Alexander instead.
Hard to argue Woolen and Diggs being there, but Ward should have been there, too.
There’s always next year, though, and those alternates may play a role.