KUSA – The preference will always be the Super Bowl.
The consolation is the Pro Bowl.
The Broncos were nowhere close to the Super Bowl this year after posting a 6-10 record that got head coach Vance Joseph and several of his assistants fired. But they did have four Pro Bowlers, including two – Von Miller and Chris Harris Jr. – who were three seasons removed from calling themselves Super Bowlers.
A look at the four Broncos chosen for the AFC team that will play the NFC in the Pro Bowl game at 1 p.m. Sunday in Orlando:
Von Miller, outside linebacker
The Broncos’ only starter and the Pro Bowl’s defending MVP. He tied for fourth in the league with 14.5 sacks to earn his seventh Pro Bowl berth in eight seasons, yet three straight postseason press conferences at the Broncos’ UCHealth Training Center headquarters have pointed out Von can play better.
This is what happens when you’re playing on what was then a record-setting contract among NFL defensive players that paid $61 million through its first three seasons, only for Miller’s Broncos to 20-28 in that span.
Asking more from Miller, though, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“Everyone can improve and that’s our motto—no matter what level you’re at,’’ defensive coordinator Ed Donatell said Thursday. “We have a great outside linebacker coach in Brandon Staley, but that’s Vic (Fangio’s) specialty, too. That’s where he cut his teeth and that’s kind of his baby. There’ll be plenty of room for improvement in that area.”
Chris Harris Jr., cornerback
A first alternate who is replacing Super Bowl participant Stephon Gilmore on the AFC team, Harris may have been a Pro Bowl starter had he not missed essentially the final five games with a fractured fibula. He had three interceptions, one he returned for a touchdown, and ranked among the leaders in the Pro Football Focus cornerback ratings.
Harris has one more year at a team-friendly $7.9 million left on his contract. The exhibition game Sunday will be eight weeks removed from when Harris suffered his injury. He said his fracture fully healed in four to six weeks so there shouldn’t be much health risk, especially with the Pro Bowl devolving in recent years to an exhibition of two-hand touch.
RELATED | Chris Harris Jr. named to Pro Bowl
Phillip Lindsay, running back
He won’t play in the game as he’s recovering from surgery on his right wrist. But he was voted in by his peers and league coaches after he surpassed 1,000 yards rushing early in game 15. Lindsay is attending the Pro Bowl festivities as a paid social media journalist, a role set up by his agency, Priority Sports, and the Broncos’ public relations staff.
One of Lindsay’s Twitter posts had him posing in a video and photo with Harris along with the message: Five combined Pro Bowls, zero combined invitations to the NFL Combine. Lindsay is the first offensive undrafted rookie to ever get selected to the Pro Bowl.
Casey Kreiter, long snapper
He was selected by AFC Pro Bowl head coach Anthony Lynn, who ordinarily has the same role with the Los Angeles Chargers. In two games against the Chargers, Kreiter had nine snaps in his first game – including on Brandon McManus’ game-winning field goal at the buzzer on November 18 at the StubHub Center – and seven snaps in the season finale.
“We’re all grateful they saw whatever they saw,’’ Broncos special teams coordinator Tom McMahon said in a sit-down interview with 9News on Thursday. “That was a coach’s choice. I think Anthony Lynn must have a great ability to identify personnel because he picked Casey and that’s what I think of Casey – it’s earned and deserved.
“He had a good year. He was a guy when I first got here, ‘I want this, this and this.’ I wanted certain things to be changed and Casey attacked it. Some guys will pout. Some guys will, ‘Well, I’ve always done it this way.’ Rightfully so, because they’ve had a lot of success in this league and they’ve done it a certain way all the way through.’ But I asked him to change some things and he did it.’’
