Indianapolis Colts center Ryan Kelly and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner were named to the 2024 Pro Bowl Games as replacements, the team announced Tuesday.
Both Kelly and Buckner will be joining left guard Quenton Nelson at the Pro Bowl Games in Orlando. Nelson was the only Colts player voted as a starter for the Pro Bowl.
Orlando bound! 🌴
Buck and Kelly are headed to the #ProBowlGames! pic.twitter.com/APDQv0D91C
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) January 30, 2024
Kelly is replacing Kansas City Chiefs center Creed Humphrey, who won’t be able to participate in the all-star weekend due to the Super Bowl being the following week.
Kelly enjoyed an incredible bounce-back campaign. Even though he missed three games due to two separate concussions, Kelly was one of the best centers in the entire league.
According to Pro Football Focus, Kelly’s seven total pressures allowed were the fewest among all NFL centers with at least 300 pass-blocking snaps. He also allowed just one sack on the season.
Buckner is likely replacing Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones. The veteran continued to be the engine of the entire Colts defense by putting together another stellar campaign.
A model of consistency, Buckner led the team in quarterback hits (21) and total pressures (52) while seeing the fourth-highest double-team rate among all NFL interior defensive linemen (66%), according to ESPN. He also finished the season with 8.0 sacks, the third time in the last four seasons he’s hit that mark.
This is Buckner’s third-career Pro Bowl selection (2018, 2021) and the fourth selection for Kelly (2019-2021).
