MVN - Most Valuable Network

Sean Taylor elected to Pro Bowl

The Washington Redskins late great safety Sean Taylor was named to the NFC Pro Bowl, the NFL announced today.

Taylor was the leading vote-getter at his position at the time of his death. The Redskins asked the league to keep Taylor’s name on the ballot. It is Taylor’s first full selection as a starter to the Pro Bowl. He was selected as an alternate last season. 

TE Chris Cooley and OL Chris Samuels are also Pro Bowl selections. It is Samuels’ fifth selection and Cooley’s first. Both are named to the reserve team.

Samuels at left tackle is the anchor of the offensive line, especially this season with Jon Jansen and Randy Thomas on injured reserve. Left guard Derrick Dockery defected to the Buffalo Bills for a lucrative contract before the season. Samuels had to get used to working with Dockery’s replacement, Pete Kendall, on short notice despite missing most of the preseason with an injury.

Cooley’s selection is well deserved, but comes late. He has been a top flight tight end since entering the league in 2004. He is the Redskins leading receiver this season with 60 receptions for 711 yards and 7 touchdowns. Career to date, he has 225 receptions and 26 touchdowns.

Flozell Adams [Dallas] and Walter Jones [Seattle] were named NFC starters on the offensive line ahead of Samuels. Jason Witten [Dallas] was named starting tight end ahead of Cooley.

I hoped that London Fletcher-Baker would be named to the Pro Bowl. He’s been a stalwart on the defense, stiffening the run defense. Instead, the league named Lofa Totupu [Seattle] and Patrick Willis [San Francisco] as inside linebackers.

Willis is the NFL’s No. 1 tackler currently [142 total tackles], but Totupu is tied for 20th place (101 total tackles, 4 INTs]. Fletcher-Baker is tied for third place with 121 total tackles. He has three interceptions, one returned for a touchdown.

There is a fair chance Fletcher-Baker could be named as an alternate at the end of the season.

UPDATE: Jason LaCanfora reports the alternate selections on Redskins Insider -

“Fullback Mike Sellers is a first alternate, Rock Cartwright is a second alternate at kick returner and Clinton Portis is a second alternate at running back. Linebacker London Fletcher was named a third alternate, as was rookie safety LaRon Landry.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 18th, 2007 at 6:25 pm and is filed under Chris Samuels, London Fletcher-Baker, Chris Cooley, Redskins, Sean Taylor, Washington Redskins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.