Pro Bowl 2012: 3 Players Who Deserved a Trip to Hawaii

The 2012 Pro Bowl will be played in Hawaii on Sunday afternoon.

Though it usually isn’t a competitive game and even though a lot of players opt not to play, there are still some guys who should be in Hawaii who aren’t.

Every year, players get snubbed by the fans and by the coaches when it comes to Pro Bowl voting and this year is no different.

Let’s take a look at this year’s biggest snubs.

Aldon Smith, OLB, San Francisco 49ers 

Clay Matthews, DeMarcus Ware and Lance Briggs all deserved Pro Bowl nods, no one is arguing that. But when it came to replacing Briggs, choosing Chad Greenway over Smith is unacceptable.

As a rookie, Smith finished with 14 sacks. That’s an outstanding total for a rookie.

He’s a big reason the Niners improved to 13-3 this season and deserved a trip to Hawaii for his efforts.

Matthew Stafford, QB, Detroit Lions 

It’s hard to argue with Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees as the first two NFC quarterbacks.

However, when it came to replacing Eli Manning on the roster, Stafford probably should have gotten the nod over Cam Newton.

Stafford led the Lions to the playoffs for the first time in seemingly forever and put up outstanding numbers in the process. He threw for 5,038 yards and 41 touchdowns while leading Detroit to a 10-6 record.

Jordy Nelson, WR, Green Bay Packers 

The NFC chose to send Greg Jennings, Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson and Steve Smith to the Pro Bowl.

Nelson had an even better season than his teammate Jennings. Nelson caught a whopping 15 touchdowns during the 2011 season. He became a huge red zone target for Rodgers, something that was big for the Packers since Jermichael Finley had a bad year.

Nelson should have been chosen as Johnson’s replacement, not Roddy White, who struggled in 2011.