TALIB, HARRIS AND MILLER SELECTED FOR PRO BOWL
Defense provides linebacker Miller, cornerback Talib as starters and reserve Harris
Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller and cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Chris Harris were selected to the 2017 Pro Bowl, while six others — center Matt Paradis, wide receivers Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, safeties Darian Stewart and T.J. Ward and defensive end Derek Wolfe — were chosen as alternates.
Both Miller and Talib were voted in as starters and, according to an NFL source, Stewart was selected as a Pro Bowl first alternate.
The Broncos’ Pro Bowl trio, all drafted or signed by general manager John Elway, has a combined 11 Pro Bowl selections since joining the team.
Miller, selected to his fifth Pro Bowl, joins former defensive backs Champ Bailey and Steve Atwater as the only players in Broncos history to make five Pro Bowls in their first six seasons. Super Bowl 50 MVP Miller ranks second in the league in sacks (13½) and total pressures (73) this season. He is also tied with Rulon Jones (73½) for fourth on the Broncos’ all-time sack list.
Harris (third career selection) and Talib (fourth) are only the cornerback duo in the NFL to make the Pro Bowl in each of the last three seasons. Harris is one of only five undrafted cornerbacks in history to make three or more Pro Bowls with his original team. Talib, who signed with Denver as a free agent in 2014, joins Arizona’s Patrick Peterson and Seattle’s Richard Sherman as the only cornerbacks in the league to be selected to the Pro Bowl in each of the last four seasons.
Last year four Broncos defenders — Miller, Harris, Talib and outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware — were selected to the Pro Bowl, marking the first time in eight years that not a single offensive player was chosen from Denver.
Players, coaches and fans all vote on Pro Bowlers, with each group’s ballots counting onethird toward the selections. The game will be played Jan. 29 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando and will revert back to the AFC vs. NFC format after three years in an unconferenced structure.
This season, players are put in separate draft pools and selected by captains. Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis and Super Bowl XXXV MVP Ray Lewis will lead the AFC, and 14-time Pro Bowl tight end Tony Gonzalez and former all-pro defensive back Charles Woodson will lead the NFC.