Players will tell you the Pro Bowl is nice, but the true postseason individual honor is to be named to the NFL’s All-Pro team. Giants safety Antrel Rolle didn’t get enough votes to make it into the Pro Bowl and he didn’t get enough votes to be selected for the All-Pro team, either. But he did come close.
Rolle was selected Friday to the second team of the Associated Press All-Pro team, which is voted on by a panel of 50 members of the national media. Rolle was the only Giants player to warrant any sort of postseason attention, and he was one of six safeties on the second team. He was a second alternate in the Pro Bowl voting.
Kansas City’s Eric Berry and Seattle’s Earl Thomas were voted the first-team All-Pro safeties. Rolle was selected for the second team, along with Seattle’s Kam Chancellor, Buffalo’s Jarius Byrd, San Diego’s Eric Weddle, Cleveland’s T.J. Ward and New England’s Devin McCourty.
Rolle missed out in the Pro Bowl voting, as Berry, Chancellor and Troy Polamalu of the Steelers received more votes than he did.
“I think I’ve earned my right in this league to express the way I feel about it,’’ Rolle said after the season about his perceived Pro Bowl snub. “Numbers don’t lie. More importantly than the numbers, I think just my versatility alone, you don’t find safeties doing what I do at the safety position. Whether it’s playing linebacker or going out there and covering the slot receiver all game, you may find [Kenny] Vaccaro from the Saints, I know they use him in a lot of multiple situations, as well as Tyrann Mathieu with Arizona, those are probably the only two safeties playing the way I play throughout the course of a game. Even them, I don’t see them playing as a linebacker in the box.
“It’s bigger than just me, it’s bigger than just an accolade. The Giants since 1996 have had a player in the Pro Bowl each and every year, this is the only year that we haven’t had a player selected for the Pro Bowl. It’s not about me, I wanted to go in and represent my team. The Pro Bowl is a self-accomplishment accolade and, to be honest with you, did I get screwed, absolutely.’’
Rolle finished with a team-high 98 tackles, a career-high two sacks and a career-high six interceptions – the most of any safety in the league.
Peyton Manning was the only unanimous choice for the All-Pro team. It was his seventh time as a first-teamer, tying Hall of Famer Otto Graham for the most by a quarterback. New Orleans tight end Jimmy Graham and Indianapolis outside linebacker Robert Mathis each drew 49 votes. Philadelphia running back LeSean McCoy and Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman had 48.
With AP