Veteran Joe Flacco, rookie Shedeur Sanders excited to be first-time Pro Bowlers

SAN FRANCISCO — Over the course of an 18-year NFL career, quarterback Joe Flacco has done just about everything.

He has won a Super Bowl, won Super Bowl MVP, earned the 2023 AP Comeback Player of the Year, started for three-quarters of the AFC North teams and played in 209 career games.

Until last week, however, there was one thing Flacco hadn’t experienced: the Pro Bowl.

But after 18 seasons, the 41-year-old got the call he had been waiting for when he was named to the NFL’s all-star game as a replacement quarterback for the AFC squad, which will take on the NFC on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET (ESPN).

“[Bengals coach] Zac [Taylor] called me up, and he was trying to feel me out about it, and I said I’d be to it if it came up,” Flacco said before his first practice Monday morning. “I don’t think it’s a goal that you really think about at the forefront of your mind, but it was definitely something that you have in the back that you want to.”

Flacco is one of 29 first-time Pro Bowlers for the game, but according to Elias Sports Information Bureau, no one in the history of the league has had to wait as long as Flacco for his first Pro Bowl selection.

For most of his career, Flacco had stiff competition in the AFC with the likes of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning claiming at least two quarterback spots. Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger and Chargers signal-caller Philip Rivers made it tough, too. Though Flacco’s Ravens won Super Bowl XLVII in a game in which Flacco won game MVP honors, Manning and Brady beat him out for the Pro Bowl spots.

“I always wanted to be one of those three guys that just gets elected,” Flacco said. “I try telling people, Tom and Peyton had those positions locked up — at least two of ’em — for the longest time.”

Flacco got a spot as a replacement after all three AFC quarterbacks named to the initial roster either couldn’t play or withdrew. Patriots quarterback Drake Maye isn’t participating because he’s in Super Bowl LX (Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET, NBC), while both Josh Allen and Justin Herbert are nursing late-season injuries.

Flacco was the second AFC replacement quarterback named to the roster after onetime Cleveland Browns teammate Shedeur Sanders, who was 6 years old in 2008 when Flacco was drafted 18th overall by the Baltimore Ravens, got the call a couple days earlier. Another Flacco teammate in Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, 12 years old when the veteran entered the league, was also named to the Pro Bowl as the final replacement.

Sanders, who got his first Pro Bowl nod on the heels of his rookie season, didn’t miss an opportunity to take a playful jab at Flacco before Monday’s practice.

“I already gained it,” Sanders said, responding to a question about what he hoped to gain from the Pro Bowl experience. “Talking to a lot of great players, shoot and Joe Flacco, again, with the same sweatpants that he wore in practice, everything.”

Though the nod came later than Flacco would’ve preferred, for Flacco, the timing of being named to his first Pro Bowl means that his kids, four sons and a daughter who range in age from 7 to 13, are especially excited about the experience.

“I think it’s really cool at this point, because I have boys that are super interested in being here and getting to be around this, so it is a lot of fun,” Flacco said.

Like Flacco, Denver Broncos offensive lineman Garett Bolles is a first-time Pro Bowler, though the 2017 first-round pick waited only half as long as the quarterback to get the call.

“I didn’t start my career off how I wanted to, but I’m finishing it how I want to, and that’s just the most important thing,” Bolles said. “I have a quote — that it doesn’t matter how you start, it matters how you finish. So you got to keep grinding, you got to keep putting in the work. Eventually your name gets called.”

And like Flacco, Bolles said he relishes the timing of the selection because of the opportunity to make memories with his kid.

“He’s at that age where he enjoys it and he loves it,” Bolles said of his 9-year-old son Kingston. “To have them to be here and to embrace it — and he loves getting all the swag. So he’s excited to be here and to be with all the guys, but he loves football and to have my son that knows what Dad does and to love it and to be my buddy, it’s amazing.”

Prior to Sunday’s practice, Bolles threw passes to Kingston, who was just 4 months old when Bolles was drafted by the Broncos, in the end zone. Giggling, Kingston corralled the football and ran away from his dad, weaving between other Pro Bowlers scattered across the turf.

“It’s awesome to have my kids out here and my wife,” Bolles said. “To be out here with him and have him enjoy it, running around with all the guys. All the guys are just so kind and sweet to him. He knows everybody. He always says, ‘Oh, that’s Jonathan Taylor for the Colts.’ So he knows all the numbers, he knows all the guys. So it’s fun that he enjoys what Daddy does and get to be here with him. He’ll remember it the rest of his life.”