NFL to talk Pro Bowl changes

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By Marc Sessler

Next week's NFL Spring Meeting in Boston will include talks on potentially marked changes for the embattled Pro Bowl.

NFL.com's Albert Breer reported Friday that the NFL will continue to advance the idea of a "draft" to select the AFC and NFC squads. Team owners also plan to toy with adding a twist to the annual all-star game by having the top vote-getters in each conference serve as team captains.

Breer reported in March that the draft concept -- previously used by the NHL for its all-star game -- is "not a done deal," according to a source. The NFL Annual Meeting in March already featured starter discussions about allowing captains to draft their squads, pick team uniforms and come up with names and rules.

These talks are a start, but the Pro Bowl's core problems have been low player attendance and effort. The game's biggest names all too regularly have declined to play -- often citing mysterious injuries -- and those who did show up failed to give us anything worth watching.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000204068/article/pro-bowl-super-bowl-on-nfl-spring-meeting-agenda

The most obvious change that needs to be made is to move the game back to after the Super Bowl. It stands to reason that the two teams playing in the Super Bowl have some of the league's best players. So by having the game before the Super Bowl, they're already eliminating some of the top players. Then factor in those who don't play because of "injury," and it's not even a Pro Bowl before the onfield debacle even begins.

To get the guys to actually play, have some incentives. Perhaps a nicer chunk of change for the winning team. Or perhaps hefty fines or suspensions for players who skip and can't prove that they're too injured to play. The Pro Bowl is part of their job. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't decide just to skip meetings or anything else related to my job.

As for the crappy onfield performance, I'm not sure what can be done to improve it other than financial incentives. The NFL is a business, and players don't want to risk injury in a meaningless exhibition game.

Another possibility is to just do skills competitions.

Whatever they decide, if it continues the way it has been, they might as well just drop it altogether.