Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will not play in the Pro Bowl this year presumably because of the right shoulder injury that he suffered during the AFC Wild Card game.
On Friday, it was announced that New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning will be replacing Roethlisberger in the annual NFL All-Star that will take place in Hawaii later this month.
While Roethlisberger was healthy enough to play in the Steelers Divisional Round playoff game last Sunday against the Denver Broncos, it’s obvious that he doesn’t want to risk further injury by playing in a meaningless game.
Now that Roethlisberger and wide receiver Antonio Brown have both backed out of the Pro Bowl, that leaves guard David DeCastro as the lone Steelers representative. However, there’s still a chance that Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward might be named a late Pro Bowl alternate early next week but that depends on whether or not the New England Patriots beat the Denver Broncos in Sunday’s AFC Championship game. If that happens, Heyward would likely replace Patriots defensive end Chandler Jones.
