The NFL opened up its fan voting for the 2019 Pro Bowl, and there’s a slew of New Orleans Saints on the ballot. The official fan voting rules only ask that voters must be at least 13 years old, so otherwise fans are allowed to vote as many times as they’d like either on NFL.com (at this link) or on Twitter, listing the player they’re nominating with the hashtag #ProBowlVote.
But what’s interesting is who isn’t an option. Let’s run through the ballot and find where all the Saints are.
Of course, Drew Brees is the only Saints quarterback available for voting. While Taysom Hill is getting on the field more often by the week, and even getting some pass attempts of his own, he isn’t listed with the other quarterbacks. It’s a good call, though – now there’s no risk of splitting the vote between the Saints’ passers.
Saints running back Alvin Kamara is in, but Mark Ingram isn’t. It shouldn’t be totally surprising for Ingram to be missing, given his suspension to start the year, but it’s a bummer that he probably won’t have the opportunity to hit up the Pro Bowl with his teammates. Fullback Zach Line represents the Saints in his position group.
Wide receivers Michael Thomas and Tre’Quan Smith are on the ballot, but Thomas probably has better odds of getting voted in than Smith. Thomas made last year’s Pro Bowl and has more than four times the targets (87) that Smith has seen (20). Benjamin Watson represents the Saints tight ends on the Pro Bowl ballot. He’s a fan-favorite and third on the team in passing targets (34), and could very well make it if he continues to get onto Saints highlight reels with scoring catches.
All five of the New Orleans Saints starting offensive linemen are on the ballot, and each of them deserves your vote. Left tackle Terron Armstead and right tackle Ryan Ramczyk could both be on the All-Pro list, while left guard Andrus Peat and center Max Unger are good options. Right guard Larry Warford was named to last year’s Pro Bowl as an alternate and has been a big part of their success in 2018.
On defense, most of the starting defensive line makes the cut: All-Pro defensive end Cameron Jordan and his partner on the other side Alex Okafor are listed, but rookie standout Marcus Davenport isn’t an option, which is disappointing. Defensive tackles Sheldon Rankins and Tyeler Davison are also available.
Inside linebacker Alex Anzalone is the only Saints representative at his position; Demario Davis and A.J. Klein are listed as outside linebackers.
In the defensive secondary, you can support cornerbacks Eli Apple and Marshon Lattimore as well as strong safety Kurt Coleman and free safety Marcus Williams. Strong safety Vonn Bell (381 snaps) has played much more often than Coleman (235) on defense, but hasn’t been credited with the starts, so he isn’t an option. Weird!
The Saints’ strong special teams unit is represented by kicker Wil Lutz, punter Thomas Morstead, and special teams ace Justin Hardee. Taysom Hill, destroyer of worlds, is listed as a return specialist. So be careful not to skip him.
Again, you can vote for the Saints by following this link. You can vote as many times as you’d like, but voting ends on Dec. 13. So get to it!