Best of the best
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, safety Kyle Hamilton, inside linebackers Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen, defensive tackle Justin Madubuike, center Tyler Linderbaum and kicker Justin Tucker were named to the AFC’s Pro Bowl roster Wednesday night.
Hamilton, Smith, and Tucker were named starters in the Feb. 4 event in Orlando, Florida, the weekend before the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, which will consist of a flag football game and skills competition.
Only the San Francisco 49ers (nine) had more players selected than the Ravens, who have the NFL’s best record and locked up the top seed in the AFC with Sunday’s blowout of the Miami Dolphins. The Dallas Cowboys also had seven players chosen.
This marks the third time Jackson has been selected after also being chosen in 2019 and 2021. It also figures to be the first of several awards for the 26-year-old quarterback, who is the favorite to be named NFL Most Valuable Player for a second time after being the unanimous choice in 2019.
Jackson, who won’t play in Saturday’s regular season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers, threw for a career-high 3,678 yards along with 24 touchdowns and just seven interceptions in 16 games. He also completed a careerbest 67.2% of his passes and rushed for 821 yards and five scores. Sunday, he torched the Dolphins with 321 yards and five touchdowns on 18 of 21 passing to finish with a perfect passer rating (158.3) a week after throwing for 252 yards and two touchdowns in a 33-19 Christmas night romp over the 49ers.
For Hamilton, it’s his first Pro Bowl selection. The second-year, do-it-all safety out of Notre Dame has 81 tackles, 13 passes defended, four interceptions (one of which he returned for a touchdown), three sacks and has been the linchpin to the league’s best defense with the Ravens leading the NFL in points allowed (16.4), sacks (57) and takeaways (29).
“It’s kind of surreal,” Hamilton said in a statement. “I don’t think it has settled in yet. Honestly, growing up, watching the Pro Bowl every year, it’s cool to have the opportunity to play in it. Obviously, we want to be playing in the Super Bowl.”
It is also the first Pro Bowl selection for Madubuike, who has had a breakout year in his fourth season. The 26-year-old, who is in the final year of his rookie contract with Baltimore, has career highs in sacks (13), quarterback hits (32) and pressures (33).
Queen was likewise a first-time selection. His 125 tackles are a career-high and he matched a career high with six passes defensed while adding 3 ½ sacks, nine tackles for loss, one interception, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
“The way we play, I think everyone on our defense should have made it, honestly,” Queen said. “The guys that didn’t make it, it’s a shoutout to them for how much time and effort and dedication that goes into us playing well as a unit. You could easily fall off at any point, and for our team to just be steady, be on the uphill climb and prove themselves every day, it means a lot for everyone.”
For Smith, it’s his second straight Pro Bowl selection. A two-time All Pro, he has the fifthmost tackles in the NFL this season with 158 along with one interception, which he snagged with one hand against the Dolphins. His 39 consecutive games with at least five tackles also marks the NFL’s longest active streak.
On offense, Linderbaum joins Hamilton in his making the Pro Bowl in his second year in the league. He also anchored a line that helped produce the conference’s secondbest offense in yards (379.5) and points (29.6) per game. Baltimore also averages the AFC’s second-most yards per play (6) and thirdmost explosive plays (122) and allowed the group’s fewest plays of zero or negative yards, including incompletions (289). Linderbaum is one of five AFC centers with at least 800 snaps with fewer than four penalties this season.
Tucker, the most accurate kicker in NFL history, has converted on 31 of 36 field goal attempts so far and has missed just one kick inside 50 yards. His 143 total points are second-most in the NFL this season and it’s his seventh selection after also being chosen in 2013, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.