On Monday, the 2021 Pro Bowl rosters were released and there were five Buffalo Bills that made the squad. On offense, Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs received their first career Pro Bowl selections. On defense, Tre'Davious White and Tremaine Edmunds were selected for the second-straight season. And as a return specialist, Andre Roberts was selected for his third straight year and second as a Bill. There are other players on this Bills team that are playing at a very high level and didn't make the Pro Bowl roster. Sean McDermott made sure that those players know they are appreciated inside the building, even without the accolades.
McDermott said Wednesday on WGR 550, "To me, it's more important how we feel about our players, and to your point that there's a handful of other guys that should have gotten recognized but didn't. And, at the end of the day, I want to make sure that they know how much we appreciate them, even though they're not getting the appreciation outside the building."
"That's a team award that's not just a me thing"
Through 15 weeks of the season, Stefon Diggs has racked up a career-high 1,314 yards which rank third in the league. This being his third straight season with 1,000+ receiving yards, it is hard to imagine that this is just his first career Pro Bowl selection. Diggs has brought so much to this Bills offense, and he shares the honor with all of his teammates because he knows it's not all about him.
"When I got the news, I was super excited, and I was super thankful," Diggs stated. "I was happy, but it was more so in that very moment I was thinking it was a collective effort it wasn't all me. More so everything geared to the quarterback's success, the O-line blocking their ass off and I thought about everybody else in that moment. It was a long time coming with that thing and the situation is different now and I'm more thankful for the people that I'm around."
"No returner is going to be great unless they have those guys in front"
For Andre Roberts, this is the third straight year that he has been selected to the Pro Bowl and twice as a member of the Buffalo Bills. He is an invaluable piece to this team with what he can do in the return game and how he consistently gives the offense great field position to work with. So far this season, Roberts has had 912 kick return yards and is only 263 yards away from setting a new personal best for kick return yards in a season. Roberts talked about the honor and how he wouldn't have made it without his teammates.
"It's always nice to get those kinds of things, you work hard all year for those things so it's nice to have them," Roberts added. "No returner is going to be great unless they have those guys in front of them working hard each and every week, blocking hard. I definitely appreciate management bringing in guys like Tyler [Bass] and Taiwan [Jones] and guys like that to help me out. They have been huge for us this year and hopefully, we can continue that later through the season."
"I do believe that it's a team award"
The season that Josh Allen is having will go down in the history books. He has broken multiple single-season Bills franchise records, won four AFC Offensive Player of the Week awards, and now has his first Pro Bowl selection. Allen can't take all the credit though and he made sure to thank his teammates because he knows he couldn't have done it without them.
"I definitely think it goes hand-in-hand with how our offense is going as a whole," Allen stated. "I do believe that it's a team award, and I'm thankful to have the guys around me that we do and have a coaching staff that we do. It's just my job to get the ball to those guys and let them make plays and that's what they've been doing."
"My eyes are set at a bigger stage."
Tremaine Edmunds is only 22 years old, has been in the NFL for three seasons, and has been selected to the Pro Bowl twice. The Bills QB of the defense has been playing at a high level throughout his young career. He wasn't himself to start the season while dealing with a shoulder injury but never missed a game. In four of the past six weeks, Edmunds has 105 tackles throughout the season. The linebacker knows that this is a big accomplishment for him, but he has bigger goals in mind.
"I was excited, a lot of family members a lot of friends, and a lot of people across the league reached out to congratulate me," Edmunds said. "So, like I said I was really excited, this being my second one it was just a really big accomplishment. But really, my eyes are set at a bigger stage, as a team just to keep going to make this push to the playoffs and that's where my mind really is right now. I appreciate those, I'm very grateful for that opportunity and very blessed to be named to the Pro Bowl. But like I said, the biggest goal right now is to continue with the task at hand and continue keeping my eyes set at what we are trying to accomplish as a team."
