NFL Pro Bowl Roster 2014: Players Sure to Be High Selections in Inaugural Draft

The first-ever Pro Bowl draft will take place at 8 p.m. ET on Jan. 22, 2014, where NFL legends Deion Sanders and Jerry Rice will select from a pool of unconferenced players.

Players were elected to the 2014 Pro Bowl as usual, but this new wrinkle plays on both the popularity of the NFL draft and fantasy football in an attempt to revive what has been a stagnant event over the years.

Rather than scrap the event entirely, this breath of fresh air has fans buzzing about the Pro Bowl. Here is a look at the full roster, followed by three names to watch early come draft day.

Pos.	Player	Team
QB	Tom Brady	New England Patriots
QB	Drew Brees	New Orleans Saints
QB	Peyton Manning	Denver Broncos
QB	Cam Newton	Carolina Panthers
QB	Philip Rivers	San Diego Chargers
QB	Russell Wilson	Seattle Seahawks
WR	Antonio Brown	Pittsburgh Steelers
WR	Dez Bryant	Dallas Cowboys
WR	Josh Gordon	Cleveland Browns
WR	A.J. Green	Cincinnati Bengals
WR	Andre Johnson	Houston Texans
WR	Calvin Johnson	Detroit Lions
WR	Brandon Marshall	Chicago Bears
WR	Demaryius Thomas	Denver Broncos
OT	Branden Albert	Kansas City Chiefs
OT	Jason Peters	Philadelphia Eagles
OT	Tyron Smith	Dallas Cowboys
OT	Joe Staley	San Francisco 49ers
OT	Joe Thomas	Cleveland Browns
OT	Trent Williams	Washington Redskins
OG	Jahri Evans	New Orleans Saints
OG	Ben Grubbs	New Orleans Saints
OG	Mike Iupati	San Francisco 49ers
OG	Logan Mankins	New England Patriots
OG	Louis Vasquez	Denver Broncos
OG	Marshal Yanda	Baltimore Ravens
C	Ryan Kalil	Carolina Panthers
C	Alex Mack	Cleveland Browns
C	Mike Pouncey	Miami Dolphins
C	Max Unger	Seattle Seahawks
TE	Jordan Cameron	Cleveland Browns
TE	Vernon Davis	San Francisco 49ers
TE	Jimmy Graham	New Orleans Saints
TE	Julius Thomas	Denver Broncos
RB	Jamaal Charles	Kansas City Chiefs
RB	Matt Forte	Chicago Bears
RB	Frank Gore	San Francisco 49ers
RB	Marshawn Lynch	Seattle Seahawks
RB	LeSean McCoy	Philadelphia Eagles
RB	Adrian Peterson	Minnesota Vikings
FB	Marcel Reece	Oakland Raiders
FB	Mike Tolbert	Carolina Panthers

Pos.	Player	Team
DE	Greg Hardy	Carolina Panthers
DE	Cameron Jordan	New Orleans Saints
DE	Robert Quinn	St. Louis Rams
DE	Cameron Wake	Miami Dolphins
DE	J.J. Watt	Houston Texans
DE	Mario Williams	Buffalo Bills
DT	Gerald McCoy	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
DT	Haloti Ngata	Baltimore Ravens
DT	Dontari Poe	Kansas City Chiefs
DT	Justin Smith	San Francisco 49ers
DT	Ndamukong Suh	Detroit Lions
DT	Kyle Williams	Buffalo Bills
OLB	John Abraham	Arizona Cardinals
OLB	Ahmad Brooks	San Francisco 49ers
OLB	Tamba Hali	Kansas City Chiefs
OLB	Justin Houston	Kansas City Chiefs
OLB	Robert Mathis	Indianapolis Colts
OLB	Terrell Suggs	Baltimore Ravens
MLB	NaVorro Bowman	San Francisco 49ers
MLB	Vontaze Burfict	Cincinnati Bengals
MLB	Luke Kuechly	Carolina Panthers
MLB	Patrick Willis	San Francisco 49ers
CB	Brandon Flowers	Kansas City Chiefs
CB	Brent Grimes	Miami Dolphins
CB	Joe Haden	Cleveland Browns
CB	Patrick Peterson	Arizona Cardinals
CB	Darrelle Revis	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
CB	Richard Sherman	Seattle Seahawks
CB	Aqib Talib	New England Patriots
CB	Alterraun Verner	Tennessee Titans
FS	Jairus Byrd	Buffalo Bills
FS	Earl Thomas	Seattle Seahawks
FS	Eric Weddle	San Diego Chargers
SS	Eric Berry	Kansas City Chiefs
SS	Kam Chancellor	Seattle Seahawks
SS	Troy Polamalu	Pittsburgh Steelers

Pos.	Player
P	Brandon Fields
P	Johnny Hekker
K	Matt Prater
K	Justin Tucker
PR	Antonio Brown
PR	Dexter McCluster
ST	Justin Bethel
ST	Matthew Slater

Peyton Manning, QB, Denver Broncos

There is a certain allure to young stars such as Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks and Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers, but either Rice or Sanders will have to get boring in the early goings and select a veteran quarterback.

Boring is not a horrible way for either to go in an offensive-minded showdown, especially with Peyton Manning on the board.

The Denver Broncos signal-caller has thrown for 5,211 yards and an NFL-record 51 touchdowns through 16 games, leading him to be the highest vote-getter as ESPN details:

Those 13 trips tie for second-most in NFL history, and this one comes just in time as Manning will not be restricted to receivers from the AFC—meaning he could lob passes to Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions.

Scary.

Josh Gordon, WR, Cleveland Browns

While certainly not the biggest name, both men in charge of the draft—especially Rice—are going to want some young blood to promote the health of the league on a national scale.

There is no better way to do that than grab Josh Gordon of the Cleveland Browns. Gordon has earned the right to be up there with the Megatrons and A.J. Greens of the world after a 2013 campaign that saw him amass 1,564 yards and nine touchdowns—despite missing the first two games of the season.

Gordon broke a variety of records through 16 Weeks, but one stands above all:

Despite these impressive feats, Gordon did not finish among the top-10 wide receivers in fan voting, as Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal illustrates:

Thank goodness for coach and player votes, as both groups clearly saw something in Gordon's impressive year—Rice and Sanders will, too.

Perhaps most helpful to Gordon's case for a high selection was his enthusiasm for being named to the event as NFL Network captured:

There is arguably no better deep threat eligible for the Pro Bowl than Gordon and he is a lock to make the trip to Hawaii with his team out of contention. Expect to see his name come off the board early.

Patrick Peterson, CB, Arizona Cardinals

While defense is hard to come by in the Pro Bowl for the sake of player safety, we all know Sanders is going to nab elite defensive backs early to counter the explosive offense Rice is sure to assemble.

Sanders has to look no further than Patrick Peterson of the Arizona Cardinals, who wants to be the No. 1 player off the board:

Peterson has a case. He ranks as the No. 12 overall corner in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), in large part thanks to his ability to shut down most consistently.

Peterson also has 40 total tackles and three picks, and also doubles as an electric returner.

If a defender is going to sneak into the early part of the draft, there is no better bet than Peterson.