Buffalo Bills: 7 Players Receive 2017 NFL Pro Bowl Honors
By Ryan Brennan
Buffalo Bills’ fans will get to watch 5 of their favorite players on Sunday during the NFL Pro Bowl.
In the end, the Buffalo Bills will have a total of 5 players taking part in the NFL Pro Bowl game — four of them on defense and one on offense.
In my opinion, they all deserved the right to play and all earned their Pro Bowl honor with an excellent season.
Again, the NFL Pro Bowl game will be played on Sunday, January 29th at 8:00 pm and can be watched on ESPN.
Don’t miss it.
LG Richie Incognito
There’s no doubt that Richie Incognito is one of the league’s top offensive lineman — especially when it comes to run-blocking. He has built a whole new career since re-joining the Buffalo Bills in 2015. He has made the most of his second chance in the NFL and was the Buffalo Bills‘ most reliable offensive lineman.
Most notably, he helped lead Buffalo to its second straight rushing title and even helped break the Bills’ franchise record for most touchdowns in a single season. He played in all 16 games this season.
This will be Incognito’s third NFL Pro Bowl honor and his second with the Buffalo Bills (2015). He also made it in 2012 with the Miami Dolphins. He was originally listed as a first alternate and will be replacing Marsal Yanda of the Baltimore Ravens.
DL Kyle Williams
Kyle Williams has been the unquestioned leader on this defense for many, many years now. He’s the ageless wonder that seems to get better and smarter every season. After an injury last season that limited him to just 6 games, Williams came back stronger than ever to lead a depleted defensive front.
He ended up playing in all but one game, totaling 64 tackles, 5 sacks and 7 stuffs. Williams played in 794 snaps, which was 74.1% of the team’s defensive snaps this season. Although he is contemplating retirement, his teammates are poised to keep him one more year in hopes of bringing Buffalo their first postseason appearance in 17 years.
Kyle Williams was originally listed as a first alternate and will be replacing the injured Ndamukong Suh of the Miami Dolphins. This is Williams’ fifth NFL Pro Bowl honor.
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LB Zach Brown
When Zach Brown signed with the Buffalo Bills last offseason, he wasn’t expected to have a huge role with this defense. With all of the injuries the Bills suffered from throughout the offseason and leading up to the regular season, Zach Brown found himself starting at line backer Week 1. It didn’t take long before he was one of the most reliable pieces to this defense.
Zach Brown was at the top of the tackles leaderboard for a lot of the season and stayed near the top the whole way through. He finished his first season with Buffalo totaling 149 tackles, 4 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, one interception, 4 passes defended and 11 stuffs. He finished second in the league in tackles.
This will be Brown’s first NFL Pro Bowl honor. He was originally listed as a third alternate, but found his way onto the roster with Dont’a Hightower of the Patriots making it to the Super Bowl.
With all of the work he put in this season, this is much deserving and I only hope we see him in a Bills’ jersey next season.
LB Lorenzo Alexander
Lorenzo Alexander was another improbable starter for the Buffalo Bills leading up to the regular season. Like Zach Brown, Alexander signed a one-year deal with Buffalo and was expected to mostly contribute on special teams, which he did. He gained a bigger role when first round draft pick Shaq Lawson missed the first half of the season.
Much like Brown again, Lorenzo Alexander exceeded expectations by a long shot and even found his name at the top of the leaderboards most of the season. For a while, he lead the league in sacks and finished the season third on that list. All in all, he totaled 76 tackles, 12.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, one interception, 6 passes defended and 4 stuffs in his 10th season.
This isn’t Alexander’s first NFL Pro Bowl appearance, making it in 2012 on special teams for the Washington Redskins. This time, he made it on the initial Pro Bowl roster as a linebacker — one of the best in the business. He’s known as a fearless competitor on the field, but a loving father that loves to give back to his community off the field.
CB Stephon Gilmore
Lastly, we have Stephon Gilmore, who received a lot of criticism before the season started when he said that he deserves to be paid like a top cornerback in this league. Many people thought he still had a lot to prove, but he stated differently. He came out strong in training camp, but started to struggle early on in the season. Overall, he had a decent season, but still not worth the top money he said he is worth.
By the end of the season, Gilmore totaled 48 tackles, 12 passes defended and 5 interceptions. He had two excellent games this season that included two interceptions on the Arizona Cardinals and two interceptions on the Cincinnati Bengals. His other interception came against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He seemed to strive against some of the top receiving corps, but struggle against some iffy ones.
This is Stephon Gilmore‘s first NFL Pro Bowl appearance and he is going to make the most of the opportunity to prove he is worth the money after all. Set to become an unrestricted free agent, his future with the Buffalo Bills is uncertain, making this game more of a tryout for other teams. It is uncertain who Gimore is replacing, but he was originally a second alternate.
Those are your Buffalo Bills Pro Bowlers this season, a very solid group of guys.
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What Buffalo Bills players do you think should’ve made the NFL Pro Bowl? Leave your comments below!