If you didn’t know any better, you might think somebody has something against the Denver Broncos. After the 2013 season when this team broke every record and racked up every award seemingly imaginable, the respect has been a bit harder to come by in 2014.
On this year’s All-Pro team, as decided by the Associated Press and 50 writers nationwide, the Broncos had zero players represented on the first team. It’s hard to argue really with any player on this team, since they are all phenomenal players, but the Broncos had a couple guys that had legitimate cases to be on this list.
Demaryius Thomas, Von Miller, and Chris Harris Jr. all received enough votes to at least be 2nd-team All-Pro selections. Somewhat shockingly the player that was picked over Miller was former Broncos pass rusher Elvis Dumervil, and the two guys that made it ahead of Harris Jr. were Richard Sherman and Darrelle Revis.
Big surprise there.
Ahead of Demaryius Thomas at the wide receiver position were Antonio Brown and Dez Bryant, followed by Jordy Nelson. Thomas received 11 votes.
Other Broncos who also received some votes were offensive linemen Ryan Clady and Louis Vasquez, cornerback Aqib Talib, linebacker Brandon Marshall, and shockingly — no votes for Mr. Peyton Manning.
What really grinds my gears in this is not that any Broncos didn’t make the first team, but the lack of recognition received by Chris Harris Jr. This list is extremely meaningless, and proven so by the fact that Harris Jr. received nine out of 100 possible votes for one of the top two cornerback spots in the league. I realize Darrelle Revis and Richard Sherman are both good, but consider the fact that Harris Jr. is the only one of the three who plays both inside and outside, who shadows the team’s best receiver regardless if he plays X, Y, Z, A, B, C, 1, 2, 3 — whatever. You get the picture.
Consider also that with that versatility came insane production. Harris Jr. didn’t allow one touchdown all season, and he was coming off of ACL surgery.
The fact that he received nine votes out of 100 is gross, and the voters should be ashamed.