Cleveland Browns Fullback Lawrence Vickers Is As Big a Pro Bowl Snub As There Is

The 2011 NFL Pro Bowl rosters have been announced, and as it happens every year, there are usually some big snubs for players who really deserve to go to the game over another player who is.

This year is no different, and while it is nice that the Browns are sending one of their own to the game, four-time Pro Bowler Joe Thomas, he is really going based on his rep more so than his play in the 2010 NFL regular season.

There's nothing wrong with that, since many in the NFL recognize that Thomas is one of the best, young premier left tackles in the game today.

But there are several other Browns who might be a bit more deserving to go from this season.

The biggest Browns snub is fullback Lawrence Vickers.

Vickers is not known for having big numbers, or having any statistics at all, but he is feared throughout the NFL as one of the most punishing lead blockers in the league.

At 6'0" and 250 pounds, Vickers was drafted by former general manager Phil Savage in the sixth round of the 2006 NFL Draft out of Colorado.

A five-year veteran, Vickers learned under Terrelle Smith in his rookie season and has been a four-year stater since 2007.

In each of his four years as a starter, Vickers has blocked in front of a running back who has run for at least 800 yards or more in every season since 2007.

Also, in three of those four years as a starter, Vickers has blocked for a runner who ran for 1,000 yards or more.

Yet Vickers still is not recognized as one of the best lead blockers in the game from the Pro Bowl level, and instead Houston Texans fullback Vonta Leach is going to the game with the honor. He has only blocked for two 1,000-yard backs in his career, and that happened this season for running back Arian Foster and in 2008 for Steve Slaton.

Once again, it seems that Vickers is a casualty of a somewhat flawed system of naming Pro Bowl players in the end.

Browns fans may also feel that running back Peyton Hillis was snubbed, but he is a first alternate and will be going if one of the three other running backs (Jags' Maurice Jones-Drew, Texans' Arian Foster, Chiefs' Jamaal Charles) cannot attend the game.

(Also posted on Dawg Scooper: A Cleveland Browns Source)