Another day, another way that the Jacksonville Jaguars have been snubbed by the national football machine. On Tuesday, the NFL announced the full 2025 Pro Bowl Games roster, which included a lone starting Jacksonville Jaguars player, long snapper Ross Matiscik. Via the team release:
“Matiscik has played 123 special teams snaps this season and made four tackles, tied for second in the league among long snappers. Since entering the league in 2020, his 22 special teams tackles are tied for the most in the NFL
at his position. Matiscik has snapped for P Logan Cooke to achieve a 42.6-yard net punting average in 2025, the sixth best mark in the AFC, and for K Cam Little’s 118 points scored, tied for sixth most in the NFL this season.
In addition to three Pro Bowl nods, Matiscik has been named an Associated Press All-Pro twice in his six-year career (First Team in 2023 and Second Team in 2024).”
Matiscik, a three-time Pro Bowler, is absolutely deserving, as one of the best long snappers in the game and a primary cog in two top ten NFL kicking operations. Additionally, several Jaguars were selected as alternates, including linebacker Devin Lloyd, running back Travis Etienne, returner Parker Washington, and quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
However, local fans have to wonder how it is possible that no other Jaguar made the cut on an 11-4, No. 3 seed Jacksonville Jaguars team that is actively fighting for the AFC playoff bye week? This may be the case where the simple answer is the correct one. It’s the same way that Jimmy Smith and Fred Taylor aren’t already Hall of Famers; the populace outside of Jacksonville simply is not watching the games.
It becomes obvious that they’re not watching, because if we only evaluate the Pro Bowl fan voting segment, Ross Matiscik and Cam Little were the only two Jaguar players to finish in the top 10 for their position. Matiscik landed at 10th with Little fourth following his preseason record-setting field goal, then securing the record officially just a few months later. The associated media likely earned Little a slight bump in notoriety in terms of fan and player votes. But that means Devin Lloyd – and his 4 interceptions before the bye week (before missing games due to injury), Parker Washington and his multiple punt return touchdowns, and Josh Hines-Allen all weren’t top 10 in fan voting despite the numbers and the film stating they should be.
Chargers linebacker Tuli Tuipulotu, Broncos linebacker Nik Bonitto, and Steelers linebacker TJ Watt were selected over Hines-Allen. However, Watt has just seven sacks, 41 quarterback pressures, and a 9.8% pressure rate on the season. Comparatively, Hines-Allen has the same number of sacks, 30 more QB pressures, and a higher pressure rate by over 5%, with more surrounding defensive questions entering the year.
Trevor Lawrence was also passed over for the Pro Bowl starting roster for Bills quarterback Josh Allen, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, and Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. On some level, this snub is one that I at least understand. When Pro Bowl voting kicked off, the Jaguars were just coming off their two most visible games against the Rams and Seahawks. Both games resulted in tough losses for the Jacksonville offense and Lawrence. And while his recent ascension following the bye has been incredible, again, few outside of Duval picked up on it until the Denver game. They’re now playing catch-up, while voting ended a week ago.
The biggest snub on the list is probably the selection of middle linebackers Azeez Al-Shaair (Texans) and Roquan Smith (Ravens) Devin Lloyd. Roquan’s selection, based on his tackle numbers and prior season name value, made that a tall hill to climb for Lloyd. However, Foye Oluokon has frequently been snubbed from the Pro Bowl due to dominating in the tackles category while not making “enough” splash plays elsewhere. Roquan has 124 tackles to Lloyd’s 70, which is no small number. But so is Smith having zero interceptions and zero sacks to boot. Azeez Al-Shaair, who seems to be more known for his questionable, high-profile penalties, has 96 tackles, no sacks, and one interception in one more game played than Lloyd.
Meanwhile, Devin has a sack and a half and is second in the NFL with five (5) interceptions! The wildest part of this snub is that Devin Lloyd would probably have a better argument to be a Pro Bowl selection as a cornerback than as a linebacker. The five interceptions, including a pick-six, create a strong argument there alone.
These snubs should be seen as nothing more than an added page in the ‘Respect Isn’t Coming’ handbook – because the outside fans, the players who don’t have Jacksonville on the roster, the media who speak about Jacksonville ten times more often than they actually watch the games – they’re not paying attention. And when they do watch, many will excuse away the good that they see, because “this can’t be the Jaguars team we saw before the bye week. Obviously, it’s just a down week for Houston…the Chargers…the Broncos… The field goal posts must be moved.
The respect isn’t coming. Just one more reason to go and steal the show, huh?
