NFL: 25 Most Surprising Pro Bowl Picks This Century

NFL: 25 Most Surprising Pro Bowl Picks This Century: 16. 2014 Vontaze Burfict

Vontaze Burfict is one of the scariest players in the game. When he was playing, he was going to hit you. Hard. He was largely considered a dirty player, and he faced four suspensions and a laundry list of fines for his transgressions. The final straw was a 12-game suspension in 2019 while with the Raiders. He destroyed Jack Doyle, and it cost him the final season of his career. So, why would he play in the Pro Bowl, a game largely known to have little to no hitting?

Burfict was a very surprising name to see on the list of Pro Bowlers in 2013. He ended up having one of the highlights of the game, diving to intercept the ball after a tip by Robert Quinn. He played well, at least for Pro Bowl standards. That doesn’t make it any less surprising that he was there.

Burfict’s stats are eye opening. He had 171 combined tackles. He added six pass deflections, three sacks, one interception, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and scored one touchdown. That’s a lot to do in one season. Burfict was a budding superstar at the time, but it was almost like he couldn’t help himself for the rest of his career. He kept making major mistakes on the field that gave guys concussions and cost him a lot of money.

Burfict will go down as one of the scariest players in the league, and no matter what, people will say he was a Pro Bowler. After the wild career he had, it’s always interesting to see he actually made the team. Some say he deserved to make two, getting snubbed out of the 2016 Pro Bowl team.