The Jets landed two players in the 2024 Pro Bowl Games. Quinnen Williams and Sauce Gardner are heading to Orlando in February to take part in the various events such as flag football and the tug of war.
However, even with the Jets at 6-10, there are a few players who made a strong case to be selected for the Pro Bowl that came up short. They could still make the roster as an alternate, but for now, they’re left empty-handed. Let’s talk about some of those players here.
LB Quincy Williams
Quincy Williams being left off the Pro Bowl roster feels like one of the biggest snubs of the entire league, let alone for the Jets. Not too many players have improved from last season to this season as much as Williams has. His ability to cover the entire field and also get into the backfield has quickly made him one of the better linebackers in the league as he has completely revived his career.
Williams may not be right at the top of the league in tackles — Williams ranks 14th with 131 — but only one linebacker, San Francisco’s Fred Warner (11), has more passes defended than Williams (10).
Williams isn’t even one of the top alternates for the Pro Bowl. He’s the fifth-alternate. He was third among inside linebackers in fan voting — behind Warner and Dre Greenlaw of the 49ers — and highest in the AFC, so clearly the league wasn’t as high on Williams as the fans were.
Instead, it was Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen of the No. 1 seed Ravens getting the honor as the AFC inside linebackers.
Punter Thomas Morstead
Thomas Morstead is having one of the best seasons of his career. His 49 yards per punt — on 92 punts, at that — is the second-highest of his career. He is at or near the top of just about every statistical category for punters this season. By the way, Morstead is 37 years old.
Morstead has more punts inside the 20 and more that resulted in a fair catch than the AFC selection at punter, AJ Cole of the Raiders. Cole’s average is just one yard more than Morstead and Morstead punted 21 more times than Cole through 17 weeks.
Kicker Greg Zuerlein
Greg Zuerlein is having a career year. Even with the miss in Week 17, Zuerlein has converted over 94 percent of his field goals this s
Edge Jermaine Johnson
Other than Quincy Williams, arguably no Jet improved more from 2022 to 2023 than Jermaine Johnson. Johnson has been a force on defense and on special teams. But since he “only” has seven sacks, he was likely overlooked and is the fifth alternate for the Pro Bowl. Next year could be the year for him.
