NFL rushing leader Derrick Henry misses first team All-Pro due to broken voting system

Christian McCaffrey and his legendary 2019 season — 1,387 rushing yards, 1,005 receiving yards and 19 touchdowns total — absolutely deserves to be celebrated by bestowing first-team All-Pro honors on him.

And that’s exactly what happened on Friday when the list of AP All-Pros was released.

But then McCaffrey also won for the first-team “flex” player, a position added in 2016 to reflect the changes made to the creative way NFL teams were running their offense.

That meant a player like Derrick Henry — who won the rushing title — was second-team All-Pro … and that kind of defeats the purpose of the “flex” position, right? The rule should be that if a player gets first-team honors at another position, the next leading flex vote-getter should move ahead.

Well this is just broken. Derrick Henry got 27 first-team All-Pro votes but won't be rewarded for leading the league in rushing because Christian McCaffrey is both the RB and the FLEX. pic.twitter.com/81wJeYIYsf

— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) January 3, 2020

Let's fix this in like 30 seconds. We'll take each players votes for their position and then add FLEX votes.

CMC 45, Henry 27, Kelce 23, Julio 21, Godwin 16

First team All Pro RB: Christian McCaffrey
First team All Pro FLEX: Derrick Henry

— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) January 3, 2020

The stupidest thing the All-Pro team does is allow someone to make the team twice. Christian McCaffrey won at running back. Therefore, McCaffrey shouldn’t win at Flex. The runner-up at Flex should get the Flex spot if the leader wins at another position.

— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) January 3, 2020

The NFL All-Pro voting system has been broken for a long time. It remains very stupid.

Christian McCaffrey is 1st Team All-Pro at RB and Flex because of a flaw in the voting system. Good for him, he's awesome, but it would be better to recognize two deserving players.

— Mitch Goldich (@mitchgoldich) January 3, 2020

There were some other quirks that had NFL fans and analysts buzzing:

T.J. Watt makes first-team All-Pro as an edge rusher and second-team All-Pro as a linebacker. pic.twitter.com/zGlVqiEagO

— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) January 3, 2020

Christian McCaffery: first-team RB and FLEX
Derrick Henry: second-team RB and FLEX
T.J. Watt: first-team EDGE and second-team LB
Tyrann Mathieu: first-team DB and second-team S
Marcus Peters: first-team DB and second-team CB

— Dan Pizzuta (@DanPizzuta) January 3, 2020

So @RSherman_25 received 3rd most All-Pro votes at CB with 10, 9 more than Marcus Peters (1).

But Marcus Peters is an All-Pro at "DB" because he led with 7 while Sherman had 5.

15/50 voted Sherman an All-Pro –> he doesn't make the team.
8/15 voted Peters an All-Pro –> he does

— Football Perspective (@fbgchase) January 3, 2020

Weird. And if All-Pro honors are tied to player bonuses, those quirks need to be fixed.

By being named to the AP's All-Pro second team, 49ers CB Richard Sherman has earned a $2M incentive.

Again, he remains one of the most productive and impactful defenders in the league.

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 3, 2020