NFL Pro Bowl Skills Competition Preview

Story posted February 2, 2023 in CommRadio, Sports by Jakob Schnur

Upon receiving an abundance of mixed reviews regarding the Pro Bowl over the past handful of years, the NFL has decided to make significant changes to the annual tilt.

Leading up to this big game, however, is the skills competition.

Beginning on Thursday and closing out on Sunday right before the matchup commences, all of the participating players will compete in a series of mini-games to showcase their skills both football and non-football related.

The events on Thursday will include:

Epic Pro Bowl Dodgeball

Essentially the main event of the skills competition every year, the dodgeball match that is generally the culmination of the skills competition will now be played on the first day of the festivities.

Both conferences will pin their offense against their own defense. Then, the winner from each matchup will face each other in the finals.

The winner’s conference will be awarded three points.

Lightning Round

This new event will see 16 representatives from each conference participate in a three-part series of competitions.

The first, “Splash Catch”, forces players to pass a water balloon back and forth from increasing distances.

The groups left standing will advance to “High Stakes,” where they will attempt to catch punts from a JUGS machine.

If they pass this, the final competition, “Thrill of the Spill,” will see the teams aiming at a bucket as they’ll attempt to soak the opposing team’s coach standing under it.

Longest Drive

In this football and golf crossover, each team will have four players drive a golf ball off a tee.

Simply put, the player with the longest drive will earn three points for his conference.

Precision Passing

Each of the three quarterbacks representing the AFC and NFC will test their accuracy in this competition which will see them aim at a multitude of different targets in an attempt to accumulate as many points as possible in the one-minute time limit.

Best Catch (Part One)

Each conference will have two players attempt to be as creative as possible and pull off the “best catch”.

This event will be continued in a second part on Sunday.

On Sunday, the continued skills competition will consist of:

Best Catch (Part Two)

The top two players that received the most votes on Thursday’s part will go head-to-head in the same competition once again.

Gridiron Gauntlet

Another event that has been used, but modified over the years, this four-part race to the finish will see each conference be forced to avoid obstacles en route to a final segment where the teams will have to push a blocking sled with a head coach on it across the finish line.

Kick Tac-Toe

This game is as simple as its name.

Kickers and punters will try to knock the football into squares between the goalpost in an attempt to tally three in a straight line.

Move the Chains

In a test of strength, each respective conference will have two teams try to pull a weighted wall with first-down chains.

The first team to pull their wall 10 yards wins in this best-of-three playoff.

The points won in these skills competitions will be awarded to the conferences in addition to the scores from each of Sunday’s flag football games to determine the winner of the NFL’s first-ever “Pro Bowl Games”.

Jakob Schnur is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jks6463@psu.edu.