The Dallas Cowboys had seven players named to the NFL Pro Bowl Games this season, the league announced on Wednesday.
The Pro Bowl is no longer an actual game. Instead, it is a series of skill challenges that will allow players to show off their abilities without a significant risk of injury — one of the major knocks against the previous year’s competitions.
The multi-day event concludes with a flag football game featuring some of the NFL’s most elite talents.
The most unexpected inclusion for the Cowboys in the Pro Bowl selection this season is kick and punt return specialist KaVontae Turpin. Turpin is the first Cowboys specialist to make the Pro Bowl in franchise history.
Turpin has not had a kick return touchdown this season but is the only player in the NFL with both a punt and a kickoff return longer than 50 yards.
Linebacker Micah Parsons, cornerback Trevon Diggs, and receiver CeeDee Lamb will make their second appearances.
Parsons has been a wrecking machine for the Dallas defense in his first two seasons and has amassed 13 sacks in just 14 games this season to equal his breakout rookie year numbers.
Parsons’ ability to cause chaos has opened up opportunities for several other players to have big moments. One of those players is DeMarcus Lawrence, a former Pro Bowler in 2017 and 2018 who will get the opportunity to attend again this season.
Lamb assumed the top wide receiver role this season after the Cowboys traded Amari Cooper to the Browns after the 2021 season.
Lamb has blossomed in the role and has 1,087 yards receiving and six touchdowns this season. He needs 15 yards and one touchdown in the season’s final three games to set career-high numbers in both categories.
Diggs is the first Cowboys cornerback to make back-to-back Pro Bowl appearances since Deion Sanders went to four consecutive Pro Bowls between 1996 and 1999.
Diggs has not had as gaudy of numbers this season as last season when he led the NFL in interceptions, but he has limited the number of big plays he gives up. He is tied for the third-most passes defended in 2022 with three interceptions.
For the eighth time in nine years, offensive lineman Zack Martin has been invited to the Pro Bowl. Only Larry Allen has more offensive lineman nods to the game in Cowboys history.
Martin will have some familiar faces around as running back Tony Pollard was named to the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career. Pollard has seen an increase in production this season and has been splitting carries with star back Ezekiel Elliott.
Of course, the Cowboys hope that Parsons, Diggs, Turpin, Martin, Lawrence, Pollard, and Lamb will be unable to participate in the Pro Bowl Games, as members of the teams competing for the Super Bowl do not participate in the Pro Bowl since it is held one week before the championship game.
The Pro Bowl Games will culminate on February 5 with the flag football challenge. Eli and Peyton Manning will be the coaches for the annual AFC vs. NFC showdown.