QBs Tyler Huntley, Trevor Lawrence added to Pro Bowl rosters

The Baltimore Ravens announced on Tuesday that they’re sending a quarterback to the Pro Bowl.

No, it is not Lamar Jackson. It’s — surprise — Tyler Huntley.

A fourth alternate, Huntley was added to replace Josh Allen (elbow injury), becoming one of the most unlikely participants ever in the Pro Bowl.

Huntley threw two touchdown passes this season, the fewest by far for a quarterback selected to the Pro Bowl since the 1970 merger, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The previous low was six touchdown passes by the Philadelphia Eagles‘ Mike Boryla in 1975. In filling in for the injured Jackson for six games, Huntley passed for a total of 658 yards, which ranked 48th in the NFL this season.

When the initial Pro Bowl rosters were announced in December, Patrick Mahomes was named the starter and Allen and Joe Burrow were selected as backups. The alternates were: Tua Tagovailoa (first), Justin Herbert (second) and Jackson (third).

Mahomes can’t attend the Pro Bowl because the Kansas City Chiefs are playing in the Super Bowl. Four other quarterbacks are unable to play because of injury: Allen (elbow), Tagovailoa (concussion), Herbert (shoulder) and Jackson (knee).

All of these banged-up quarterbacks opened a spot for Huntley, who struggled in throwing two touchdowns and three interceptions this season. Huntley becomes the first quarterback since Vince Young in 2006 to make the Pro Bowl after throwing more interceptions than touchdowns.

The other quarterback added to the Pro Bowl roster on Tuesday was the Jacksonville Jaguars‘ Trevor Lawrence, who takes Mahomes’ spot. Lawrence rebounded from a rough rookie season and completed 67.3% of his passes for 4,113 yards and 25 touchdowns with eight interceptions. He surged in the second half of the season, throwing 15 touchdown passes and only two interceptions in Weeks 9-18.

Lawrence led the Jaguars to come-from-behind victories over the Ravens, Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers. He also rebounded from a fumble with less than two minutes to play to lead the Jaguars to a game-tying field goal as time expired in regulation against the Dallas Cowboys.

Lawrence threw four interceptions in the first half of the Wild Card playoff game against the Chargers, but then threw four touchdown passes to rally the Jaguars from a 27-0 deficit. The Jaguars won 31-30 on Riley Patterson’s 36-yard field goal as time expired.

This marks the first year that the NFL is replacing the Pro Bowl with weeklong skills competitions and a flag football game. The new event will replace the full-contact showcase that started in 1951.

The “Pro Bowl Games” are being held in Las Vegas this week. The flag football game will take place at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday.