Falcons old friend among 2024 Pro Bowl snubs

While Chris Lindstrom and KhaDarel Hodge were elected to the Pro Bowl, there were a few Falcons snubs.

Bijan Robinson, in particular, should’ve been in over Josh Jacobs, and A.J. Terrell quietly had his best year since his All-Pro campaign. Of course, Jessie Bates III is always among the best safeties in the league and deserves recognition.

But what about other Falcons, old Falcons friends? ESPN’s Ben Solak believes former Atlanta tight end Jonnu Smith was snubbed and should replace Travis Kelce, and it’s really not even a debate.

“It is unsurprising that a popular player such as Kelce made the Pro Bowl — especially because he still is productive in his age-35 season! But the production was not efficient, as Kelce’s speed and quickness have tailed off. He still had good volume — 133 targets, 97 receptions — but only averaged 1.6 yards per route to Smith’s 2.1, had negative receptions and receiving yards over expectation and got smoked in EPA per target (0.11 to Smith’s 0.58).

Smith had a career season in Miami and added a new, needed dimension to a passing game that has lacked success at tight end for a few seasons. That addition should have been marked with a Pro Bowl appearance.”

While Solak gives you the intricacies, I’ll give you the meat and potatoes. Simply put, Jonnu Smith had more yards and touchdowns than Travis Kelce despite 34 fewer targets. The former Falcons tight end has 79 receptions for 828 yards and seven touchdowns.

This is just a microcosm of what’s wrong with the Pro Bowl. It’s a fine voting system if the honor wasn’t directly tied to incentives and the Hall of Fame. Players miss out on millions of dollars, and sometimes, their Hall of Fame resumés are impacted.

Jonnu Smith is obviously not impacted in that way, but it’s still a shame that he wasn’t recognized as a Pro Bowler. With the Falcons, the veteran totaled 582 yards and three touchdowns on 50 receptions. In a larger role, he thrived in Miami, despite the Dolphins cycling through quarterbacks.

The Falcons have one of their own quietly building his Hall of Fame case actually in Chris Lindstrom, who has now made three consecutive Pro Bowls and is likely to earn All-Pro honors for the third straight year too.

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