Cardinals edge rusher Josh Sweat was the only NFC player with double-digit sacks not to get a Pro Bowl invite. That did not sit well with the eight-year veteran.
“I’m upset because there’s only two individual things that you can get, and it’s Pro Bowl and All-Pro,” Sweat said Wednesday, via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN. “And I got one taken away from me. I’m just flat out saying it was taken away from me — and it ain’t the first time.”
Sweat has tied his single-season high with 11 sacks, which he also had in 2022 with the Eagles, and he has four forced fumbles. He signed with the Cardinals in free agency this offseason, reuniting with Jonathan Gannon and Nick Rallis after two seasons with them in Philadelphia, and has had his best season despite the Cardinals’ lack of success.
“It’s like I don’t know what else I could have done at that point,” Sweat said. “I don’t know what else I could have done. Now previous years, maybe you could have said he didn’t have the popularity, maybe he didn’t get the fan vote. This year, I was second in fan voting [at outside linebacker] for [the] NFC. It’s like, what else did they want me to do? The popularity was there. You could say losing team. It didn’t matter; I had the popularity.”
Giants linebacker Brian Burns and Rams linebackers Byron Young and Jared Verse were the Pro Bowlers selected at the position.
Sweat called it “frustrating” to not be recognized for his play this season.
“The fans said, ‘He should be the guy; we want him in.’ My play showed that I should be in,” Sweat said. “But somewhere, some popularity within the league said that he shouldn’t be in. I just want to know if I’m crazy. The only double-digit NFC guy to not make it. All they do is wave a player card in your face, like, ‘Go vote. Look at the sacks and forced fumbles.’ But you on a hotter team or your team losing or whatever; I ain’t really trying to hear none of that. I just want what I earned and what I worked for.”
Sweat was a Pro Bowl alternate in 2021 but got called up when 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa was injured.