Pro Bowl 2019 substitutions

OLB Leighton Vander Esch instead of Anthony Barr (NFC)

Vander Esch has more than twice as many tackles as Barr (116 compared to 28) and 88 of those were in solo fashion

With Barr it’s a little bit of a weird deal. You rarely hear people talk about him and still I feel like he is one of the more overrated players in the NFL.

The Vikings linebacker had a tremendous 2015 season, when he recorded 54 solo tackles, forced four turnovers and deflected seven passes.

However, he hasn’t intercepted a pass since then and he has forced just two fumbles in three years. In this era, defense is about making impact plays and his biggest one of those probably came when he knocked out Aaron Rodgers last year.

Obviously, I’m joking here, but there is some truth to this – in terms of a lack of influence he has on games. He is an excellent run-defender and at his size, he can take away some passing lanes, but I haven’t felt like he should have been part of the Pro Bowl since ’15 and that is especially evident when you have such tremendous competition.

The Cowboys linebacker duo of Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith has been so good that I would have liked to see them both make the roster. No doubt those two inside linebacker spots are in good hands with Bobby Wagner and Luke Kuechly, who are the prototypes at the MIKE position.

Therefore I didn’t list Smith, who is having a phenomenal year himself, finally having fully recovered from that horrific knee injury at Notre Dame.

However, by the league’s own parameters, their rookie backer counts as an outside linebacker playing that WILL spot and he has been almost equally as impressive. Vander Esch has more than twice as many tackles as Barr (116 compared to 28) and 88 of those were in solo fashion.

He has also intercepted two passes while knocking down an additional seven. He and his partner in crime have been chasing down ball-carriers and knocking the crap out of them all over the field and they look like the best linebacker duo in the league already.