Pair of Vikings Named to 2024 Pro Bowl Games
Voting for the 2024 Pro Bowl Game began for fans back on November 27th, and it lasted until December 25th.
During this time, fans were able to vote for their players to participate in this year’s Pro Bowl, and on Wednesday night, the NFL announced the rosters for both the AFC and NFC. A pair of Vikings have been selected to participate this year. Those Vikings are OLB Danielle Hunter and LS Andrew DePaola.
Pair of Vikings Named to 2024 Pro Bowl Games
The Vikings tweeted on Wednesday night, recognizing the team’s nominees, “Your 2024 #Vikings Pro Bowl Games selections! @andrewdepaola @DHunt94_TX”
Hunter has been one of the premier defenders in the league this season, and at times, he has almost single-handedly carried Minnesota’s pass-rush.
The 29-year-old defender has put together career-high numbers almost across the board this season. Hunter’s 21 tackles for loss tie for the league-lead with Maxx Crosby, and his 15.5 sacks come in fifth across the NFL.
This also marks the fourth season in which Hunter has been named a Pro Bowler. He was selected in back-to-back seasons from 2018-2019. Then, after missing all of the 2020 season and most of 2021, Hunter bounced back in 2022 to put together another Pro Bowl year.
As for DePaola, the long-snapper position isn’t one that gets a lot of love at the NFL level. However, the Vikings have one of the best at the position in their 36-year-old.
DePaola has been with the Vikings for the past four seasons after beginning his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2014-16) and having separate stints with the Chicago Bears (2017) and Oakland Raiders (2018).
The veteran long-snapper then went through the entire 2019 season without a team largely because of injury. The Carolina Panthers rostered him throughout training camp, but they cut him before the regular season began.
Now, DePaola seems to have found a new chapter of his career in Minnesota. He earned his first Pro Bowl selection last season, and he was also named a first-team All-Pro during 2022.
It should also be noted that six Vikings were named as alternates. Here is that list of names as well as their placement in the alternate queue:
- FB C.J. Ham (first alternate)
- TE T.J. Hockenson (first alternate)*
- S Josh Metellus (second alternate)
- C Garrett Bradbury (third alternate)
- LT Christian Darrisaw (fourth alternate)
- S Harrison Smith (fourth alternate)
*: T.J. Hockenson suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 16 and is currently on IR, so he would be unable to play even if selected as an alternate.
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Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.