With team success usually comes the spoils and this year’s Giants are no different. The Pro Bowl rosters were released on Tuesday and four Giants found their names on there, and to no one’s surprise.
Safety Landon Collins, WR Odell Beckham, Jr., CB Janoris Jenkins and special teams ace Dwayne Harris are all headed to Orlando for this year’s game providing the Giants aren’t headed to the Super Bowl.
Several other Giants, such as DT Damon Harrison and LG Justin Pugh, were not on the roster but are likely to be named at a later time after players begin to drop out due to injuries and other commitments.
The Pro Bowl is nothing new to the electric Beckham, who is third in the NFL with 85 receptions and 10 touchdown catches, and is fourth with 1,173 yards. He is the first Giants player to be voted to three consecutive Pro Bowls since guard Chris Snee from 2008-10. Beckham is the first Giants wide receiver chosen three years in a row since Del Shofner from 1961-63.
“I feel like I have,” Beckham said when asked if he’s playing as well as he has in his first two seasons. “I feel like numbers-wise and just in general, it has been pretty close, pretty similar. But we have a better record this year, so it is a lot more fun when you are winning games.”
Jenkins has had a stellar season after signing a whopping, five-year, $62.5 million deal in March that many felt was an overreach on the Giants’ part. He had been considered one of the league’s more talented corners but this will be his first trip to the Pro Bowl.
Jenkins has 48 tackles (43 solo), three interceptions, and is tied with CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie with a team-high 17 passes defensed. DRC played in the Pro Bowl last year.
“It took me a while to get here,” said Jenkins, who spent the first four seasons of his career with the Rams. “I am very thankful for everyone who voted and I am just excited. The Pro Bowl was a goal of mine coming in and I just want to thank everybody for playing around me, elevating my game and making me play harder. I thought one day (in would happen). I didn’t know what day it was going to be. I am glad that it finally came, and I am truly blessed.”
Collins’ name has been synonymous with the Pro Bowl all season. The second-year safety out of Alabama has come into his own this year, leading the Giants with 108 tackles (87 solo) and five interceptions. He is the first NFL safety with 100-plus tackles, at least five interceptions, and at least three sacks since Rodney Harrison in 2000. He is the first Giants player with a at least five interceptions and 3.0 sacks since Jason Sehorn in 1996.
“It’s exciting,” Collins said. “It is a blessing and all I can do is thank my brothers for staying on top of me and staying on top of my game, and just pushing me to another level. It is a milestone and I have got to put another one on top of that now. I have been on top of my craft, and what I have to do is keep paying attention to my details, and doing my job and my job-plus.”
Harris has been one of the NFL’s best special teamers for years now, both as a returner and a cover guy, which is the position he was named at.
“I have been working for this for so long,” said Harris, who joined the Giants in 2015 after four seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. “I just feel like every year, something happens where I couldn’t get in, especially all the good years I have had. I just feel like one person has always gotten in front of me. But to get my first one feels amazing. It is great. It is one thing that I have been working on since I came into the league and the guys around me who helped me get to it, I put it up for them.”