Woof. The New Orleans Saints often send four, five, and six or more players to the Pro Bowl each year, but they aren’t exactly resonating with fans this season. After a week of voting on social media, just one Saints player leads his position group in votes across the NFC: free safety Tyrann Mathieu.
The NFL shared updates on Pro Bowl voting Wednesday, and Mathieu leads all safeties in the conference (as well as all Saints players) in votes with 44,674 ballots and counting. Public voting ends Thursday, Dec. 15 with players and coaches casting their votes on Friday, Dec. 16, and results to be announced shortly after.
It’s good to see at least one Saints player making some noise, but it’s hard to believe Mathieu isn’t getting a boost from his reputation. He hasn’t quite met expectations this season after signing with his hometown team as a much-lauded free agent pickup. Mathieu is credited with 2 interceptions and 5 pass breakups, plus a fumble recovery, 64 combined tackles (46 solo, 2 tackles for loss), and a quarterback hit. With that said, Mathieu has been selected for three Pro Bowls in his career and two in both of the last two years, so he’s clearly still popular with fans.
We’ll have to wait and see if any of the other regulars make the cut as well. Defensive end Cameron Jordan has made more Pro Bowl appearances (7) than anyone else on the roster, but the trio of running back Alvin Kamara (5), cornerback Marshon Lattimore (4), and wide receiver Michael Thomas (3) haven’t exactly impressed this season, though Lattimore and Thomas have both missed extensive time with injuries. Left guard Andrus Peat (3) and running back Mark Ingram II (2) are the only other players on the squad with multiple Pro Bowl nods, but they might be long shots this time around.
