New Orleans Saints: 8 Players Who Could Make the 2012 Pro Bowl

The NFL opened up fan balloting Tuesday for the 2012 NFL Pro Bowl, which will again be held in Honolulu on Jan. 29, 2012. 

Fans can vote here for their favorite NFL players. The Pro Bowl has long been a fun exhibition for the players—more vacation than football game. 

As for who should make it, one can make a good case that through the first seven weeks of the season, eight New Orleans Saints have stood out enough to be sent to Hawaii—assuming the team doesn't get to go to Indianapolis a week later to play in the Super Bowl (obviously every Saints fans' hope). 

Most of these guys should come as no surprise, but a few may be guys you haven't thought of to this point as playing at a Pro Bowl level. 

Unfortunately, I cannot give my recommendation to Marques Colston this season because of the missed time due to his shoulder injury. Colston remains perhaps the best player in football to have never made a Pro Bowl. Perhaps next year will be the year to make that happen. 

QB Drew Brees

Through seven weeks Drew Brees is leading the NFL in passing yards with 2,477. He also is among the best in touchdowns (18), completion percentage (70.9) and QB rating (104.6). 

Brees is not only playing his best football through seven games of his career, but he is on pace to shatter Dan Marino's passing yards mark of 5,046 yards. 

Brees is on any shortlist of MVP candidates to this point in the season. Without him, it's hard think the Saints would be leading their division or even have a winning record. 

Brees is the most obvious Saints representative in Hawaii every year, but he is not the only guy whom you should vote for during the next six weeks. 

TE Jimmy Graham

Second-year pro Jimmy Graham is putting up wide receiver-type numbers from the tight end position. With 45 catches and 674 yards Graham is so far above every other tight end in the league, it's as if Graham is from another planet. 

His 15.0 yards per catch number is No. 1 in the NFL among tight ends, though Dustin Keller is 0.1 yards behind. And Graham is tied with Rob Gronkowski for the lead among tight ends with five touchdowns. 

For a player with so little experience playing the game at a high level, Graham's production has been nothing short of amazing. His career arc is so similar to Antonio Gates it's scary. Gates' career started relatively quietly in his first season and the explosion that followed in 2004—the same year Brees kind of exploded onto the scene as a legitimately good NFL QB. 

Everyone expected Brees to find an Antonio Gates at the tight end position early in his time in New Orleans. No one ever expected that five years into the process he would find Antonio Gates 2.0.

Brees and the Saints have done just that. 

RB/KR/PR/WR Darren Sproles

If there's been a better free-agent pickup from the 2011 free agency period I beg to be shown that guy. Sproles has taken the role of Reggie Bush in the Saints offense and his interpretation has been unique and so much better than the original player. 

Like Graham, Sproles is essentially a 2.0—and also a reprisal from his quarterback's past in San Diego. Sproles burst onto the scene as a rookie in 2005—Brees' final year in San Diego—and exploded in the years beyond that. 

Sproles really never got the acclaim he deserved in San Diego, nor the money, so this offseason when the Saints came calling, New Orleans made the most sense. 

You can find Sproles on the ballot listed under kick returner, which is actually for the best, as it gives him the best chance to make the team—though there is some guy named Devin Hester for the Bears that I've heard is pretty good as well. 

But with four touchdowns and a number of big plays, it would be hard to leave Sproles off the Pro Bowl team—at least through seven weeks of the season. 

LG Carl Nicks

When you're a good offense, it's almost a guarantee you're going to get at least one offensive lineman elected to the Pro Bowl. Though Jahri Evans has the reputation as the best O-lineman on the team, from my view Carl Nicks has been the best player on that unit thus far this season. 

Is Nicks deserving? Well, to some extent, yes, to some other extents, no. Is Nicks going to make it? If you, the fan, vote for him, he sure will. Go vote for Nicks and Evans, and see who wins. 

CB Jabari Greer

Jabari Greer has taken his game to another level this year, becoming one of the best tackling corners in the game. He is coming up to stop the run, which is a bit of a concern, but at least someone is doing it. 

As a cover guy, Greer remains as fast and quick as ever. Sure, he's struggled at times against Andre Johnson and some of the Packers, but he's also done a great job against the resurgent Steve Smith and last week against some good Indianapolis receivers. 

Too often players at this position make the Pro Bowl because of interceptions and not their actual play; the reason Nnamdi Asomugha and Champ Bailey were known as the best corners in the game for so long was not because they racked up tons of picks, but because opponents never threw their way. 

Tracy Porter has been tested often this season, but has responded as well as any corner in the game. I maintain he's one of the top 10 players at that position in the entire league. 

S Malcolm Jenkins

Maybe Malcolm Jenkins hasn't put up numbers that jump out as Pro Bowl worthy. In fact, it's possible I'm mostly harking back to a season ago when he made a number of big plays but for some reason didn't make the Pro Bowl. 

I honestly believe Jenkins is the best safety in the NFC. For a third-year pro that's quite a statement. I believe the more Gregg Williams learns to use him as a cover guy in nickel situations as well as on blitzes, the more effective Jenkins will become. 

I had heard that the Saints had a package to use three safeties in nickel situations, which given Jenkins' Charles Woodson-type skill set made a ton of sense. However, I haven't seen much, if any, of that this year. 

The sooner the Saints go to that, the sooner Jenkins will prove he is the best safety in the NFC. 

K John Kasay

Has there been a more consistently accurate kicker in the NFC than Kasay? Perhaps so, but has any kicker been as important to his team in this conference than Kasay? I think not.

The Packers would have won every game regardless of who their kicker was. If Kasay had not been available and willing to come kick for the Saints when Garrett Hartley got hurt, who knows where the Saints would be. They wouldn't have won the Carolina game, the Houston game or stayed close in that Green Bay game. 

His point totals are very high due to a high number of field goals and extra points. 

No, he doesn't kick off for the Saints, but not all kickers do—or even should kick off for their teams. In my mind, that doesn't take away from Kasay's value to this Saints team. 

P Thomas Morstead

Thomas Morstead isn't going to get a ton of acclaim for his efforts as a punter since he plays for a team with a great offense (funny how that works). However, he is responsible for the defense generally being put in good situations—at least after a punt or kickoff. 

His average is 49.8, bettered in the conference only by San Francisco's Andy Lee (50.5), but none of the other punters who are in contention with him can add to their resume Morstead's impressive kickoff numbers. 

In seven games, Morstead has kicked off 47 times. Nearly two-thirds of the time—30 out of those 47—he has gained a touchback. The league average is approximately 50 percent. 

Therefore Morstead is one of the best punters and kickoff men in the game. That should be enough to earn a Pro Bowl bid, shouldn't it?