Now that we are about halfway through the regular season, it is time to start considering which players are deserving of a Pro Bowl selection. For this series, we will look at the three most deserving candidates for each team. Obviously, some teams will have more or less than three players selected to the Pro Bowl, but for simplicity purposes, we will discuss the top three either way.
TOP MIDSEASON KANSAS CITY CHIEFS PRO BOWL CANDIDATES
JUSTIN HOUSTON
Linebacker Justin Houston has tallied 26 tackles, 5.5 sacks (leads team), four tackles for loss (second on team), five passes defended (third on team), one forced fumble and one interception so far this season. Houston’s sack numbers may not be what they were last season, when he led the league with 22 sacks. But the former Georgia Bulldog is earning the six-year, $101 million ($52.5 million guaranteed) contract he signed in July.
This season Houston has helped the Kansas City Chiefs defense pressure opposing quarterbacks. There’s a reason the talented linebacker was one of two Chiefs players to make the Pro Football Focus midseason All-Pro second team.
DERRICK JOHNSON
Linebacker Derrick Johnson was the other member of the Chiefs to be named to the Pro Football Focus midseason All-Pro second team. In his eleventh season the former Texas Longhorn has recorded 43 tackles (leads team), two sacks (tied for fourth on the Chiefs), one tackle for loss, four passes defended (tied for fourth on the team) and one interception.
Last season Johnson ruptured his Achilles in the regular season opener and was lost for year. His rehab appears to have gone well and he took the offseason and preseason games seriously. The work to get back seems to have paid off, and the Chiefs defense looks better with him on the field this season.
CHARCANDRICK WEST
The first two players named in this article were givens, at least in my mind. But there were some different players the last slot could have gone to. Strong safety Ron Parker (37 tackles, two sacks, seven passes defended and one interception), strong safety Eric Berry (31 tackles, four passes defended and one interception), linebacker Tamba Hali (22 tackles, 3.5 sacks, and one tackle for loss), and defensive end Allen Bailey (31 tackles, 4.5 sacks, three tackles for loss and two forced fumbles), among others deserved consideration. But I decided to go in a different direction by adding running back Charcandrick West in the final spot.
True, West hasn’t seen action in every Chiefs game this season and only averaged seven carries per game for the first three games he did see some playing time. But the talented back has really come on strong in Kansas City’s last two games, both of which the Chiefs won. In those two games alone he had 42 carries for 207 yards and he found the endzone in each game.
The Chiefs’ season seemed to be all but over when running back Jamaal Charles sustained a season-ending injury in their Week 5 loss to the Chicago Bears. But West has almost single handedly kept Kansas City’s playoff hopes alive. If he keeps up the pace he’s been on the past two games, he may just receive some Pro Bowl recognition.
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