If you are an avid football fan you’ve likely heard the term all-pro while watching a game on tv. The issue is many fans don’t know much about this term or how it differs from the Pro Bowl. Luckily this guide is on hand to break down everything you need to know about all pros in football.
An all pro in football is a players that has been selected as one of the best players at his position. The all pro team is voted on by a team of writers that decide the players that would make the best starting lineup.
Several different publications publish their All Pros for the year but the most respected All Pro list comes from the Associated Press.
The All Pro team is broken up into first team all pro and second team all pro. The first team all pros are players that are voted to be starters on the all pro team. While second team all pro players are players who received enough votes to be second string on the all pro team.
The All Pro team never actually plays a game together it is instead an honour which mentions the players were the best at their position in the previous league year.
Who Selects The All Pros In Football?
As we stated all pros are selected by sports writers. There are several different versions of All Pro selections released each year.
As we stated earlier associated press released the far and away most popular all pro team. This is the list people refer to when counting the total number of all pros team a player has made.
Two other publications that continue to release an All Pro list each year include the Sporting News and the Pro Football Writers Association.
In the CBA agreement between the NFL and NFLPA discussed using these All Pro teams for compensatory draft purposes.
The plan was to use these all pro mentions as a way to measure the value of players that left in free agency. Depending on the quality of the player that leaves in free agency a team can be awarded compensatory draft picks.
This does not include every All Pro publication. As they stated they would take into account AP and PFWA but not the sporting news selections
Pro Bowl Vs All Pro
The first thing you need to know about the difference between the pro bowl and being an all pro is that one is an actual event.
The Pro Bowl is a real game that takes place the week before the Superbowl. It includes the best players in the AFC vs the best players in the NFC.
This is another major difference as the AP selections are only enough for one starting lineup and back ups. While the pro bowl makes up two team one for the AFC the other for the NFC.
This results in the Pro Bowl lineup up being much larger. Another factor that plays into team size is the players that are not able to attend.
As we mentioned earlier the pro bowl takes place the week before the super bowl. This means if any of the players that made the team are in the Superbowl they will not be able to attend.
Many other players decide to sit the pro bowl out in order to rest their bodies after the season.
Since there is a game to be played the pro bowl must find replacement players to play in the game.
This means the NFL must go down the list in order to add more players to the pro bowl roster. If there are three quarterbacks on team AFC and two don’t play. They must bring in the fourth and fifth-ranked quarterbacks in the AFC
All of these backup players receive their pro bowl honour for the season since they played in the game. This makes the number of players who receive the pro bowl honours much larger than the All Pro team.
It is for this reason that the Pro Bowl is considered a much less prestigious award than a All-Pro.
To get a full understanding of being an All pro read our guide comparing all pros to pro bowlers.
