ORLANDO, Fla. — The NFL is putting its entire weight behind the promotion of flag football, from sponsoring girls high school leagues, to putting Mexican flag football star Diana Flores in a starring role in a Super Bowl ad last year, to lobbying for flag football to get into the Olympic Games in 2028. But the only time you’ll see NFL players wearing flags on their belts is at the Pro Bowl, where since 2023, what had been a traditional all-star game has been replaced by a series of skills competitions, culminating with a flag football game.
Cam Heyward hates it.
The Pittsburgh Steelers captain was picked to play in his seventh Pro Bowl on Sunday, and he’s seen it both ways. For Heyward, real football is something worth doing, even with the risk of injury.
On Saturday, the extend of Heyward’s participation was about a five-second stint in the second run of the AFC vs. NFC tug of war competition that happened after the end of the third quarter. That’s not exactly a full day. In the first quarter, television cameras caught him playing cards on the AFC bench.
“I’d like to be more involved somehow,” he said after his AFC squad lost, 76-57. “Have more of a say-so, and we can win. Honestly, I just, I’d rather have the whole Pro Bowl game.”
Heyward feels that the new format overly emphasizes the play of quarterbacks and skill position players, while the Pro Bowl is supposed to be a celebration of excellence at all 22 starting spots.
“I know everybody doesn’t agree with me, but physical nature is part of our game,” Heyward said. “There’s a lot of deserving men, O-line, D-line, that deserve a spotlight. Whether you’re shutting a guy down or you’re getting past a guy.”
The changes to the Pro Bowl came amid a significant downturn in participation from some of the game’s top stars, and a sometimes comical lack of effort from the players that were playing.
The change has fixed the latter part. Until the score of the game got out of hand, both teams appeared to be giving it their all during the events on Saturday. These players are naturally competitive, and it doesn’t even matter the format. The punting competition was one of the most intense highlights of the day, as Detroit’s Jake Fox and Jacksonville’s Logan Cooke went to sudden death overtime with their teammates in a frenzied circle around them.
In many ways, the punters got more action than the linemen did. And there was nothing at all to represent one of the biggest parts of the game: the pass rush.
“I think we’re letting the quarterbacks get away with just feeling comfortable in the pocket,” Heyward said.
Heyward understands that some players are reluctant to risk injury for an all-star game. But that doesn’t stop him from wishing that more had his mindset.
“We’re only in this game for a limited amount of time,” he said. “I want to keep this game around as long as possible. … I’d just hate to see that go away.”
If there were more players like Cam Heyward, it probably wouldn’t have ever gotten to this point.
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