The Pro Bowl and All-Pro Teams: What Is the Difference

By 4Football Staff · October 4, 2026 · 11 min read

Both honor the NFL's best players, but they are chosen by different voters, count different numbers of players and mean different things. Here is how the Pro Bowl and All-Pro teams compare.

A broadcaster introduces a defensive end by saying he is a "five-time Pro Bowler." A few minutes later, another broadcaster describes a cornerback as a "first-team All-Pro." Both phrases sound like they mean roughly the same thing: this player is among the league's best. And both are, in a general way, compliments. But they refer to two separate honors, chosen by different groups of voters, and they do not carry the same weight.

If you have ever wondered why a player can be a Pro Bowler without being an All-Pro, or why some fans treat All-Pro as the real measure, this guide explains the difference. It covers how each selection is made, what each one is supposed to reflect, where each tends to go wrong, and why the labels matter beyond bragging rights.

As with most league traditions, details change from year to year, including the exact format of the Pro Bowl itself. We describe the lasting structure and tell you where to confirm anything that is likely to have been updated.

The Pro Bowl: the league's all-star selection

The Pro Bowl is the NFL's all-star event. The league selects a roster of players from each conference, the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC), to represent them. The people chosen are called Pro Bowlers, and the honor is a permanent line on a player's résumé.

The modern version of the game dates to the early 1950s. Over the decades it has been held in different places, at different times of the year and in different formats. For a long stretch, it was a full tackle game between the two conferences. In more recent years, the league has reworked the event, adding skills competitions and flag football in place of a traditional game. Since the format is under periodic review, check the league's announcements if you want the current version of the event itself.

The important point is that the honor of being selected is separate from the event. A player who is chosen is a Pro Bowler for that season whether or not he plays in the event, and whether or not the event is played in the usual way.

How Pro Bowl players are chosen

Selection combines three groups of voters:

• Fans, who vote through the league's official channels.
• Players, who vote for their peers.
• Coaches, who vote on the players in their conference.

Each group has a share of the final result, with the three groups combined to produce the roster. The league has described the weighting as roughly equal among the three, and you can confirm the current method in the league's announcements.

Rosters are built by position and by conference. Each conference gets starters and reserves at positions such as quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end, offensive line, defensive line, linebacker, defensive back and the special-teams roles. The numbers at each position are set by the league and can be adjusted.

Alternates

Not everyone who is selected plays in the event. Some players are injured. Players on the two teams that reach the Super Bowl are generally unavailable, because their season is still going. Others decline for personal reasons. When a player cannot take part, an alternate is named in his place. This is why the final list of participants is larger than the original roster, and why a player may be described as a Pro Bowl "replacement" or "alternate." Alternate selections are generally counted as Pro Bowl honors in the way players describe their careers, though fans sometimes distinguish between them and those selected initially.

The All-Pro team: a different kind of list

The All-Pro team is also meant to identify the best players, but it works differently. There is no conference split. The team picks the best player at each position across the entire league, not one conference at a time. And the selection is made by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters rather than a mix of fans, players and coaches.

The best-known All-Pro team is the one selected by the Associated Press, a national news organization. Its panel is made up of a few dozen media members who cover the league. The panelists vote for the players they think performed best at each position that season. The team is then divided into a first team and a second team. A player who earns the most votes at his position is a first-team All-Pro, and the runner-up or runners-up make the second team.

Several features distinguish the list:

• It is small. Only one set of starters is chosen at each position, plus a second team.
• It is league-wide. A player is compared with every player at his position, not just those in his own conference.
• It is performance-driven. Voters are asked to pick the best players for that season, and they are generally people who watch games closely.
• It is position-specific. The positions used on the ballot have been updated at times to better reflect how the game is played, such as by splitting some defensive-line roles or by adding a category for versatile players. The current ballot is available from the organization that runs the vote.

Other organizations have also published All-Pro teams, including some groups of football writers and publications. Because they use different voters and methods, their selections can differ. When someone refers to "All-Pro" without further explanation, they most often mean the Associated Press team, but it is worth checking when the distinction matters.

Side-by-side comparison

The most important line in the table is the size. Because the Pro Bowl roster is large, a player can make it as a solid starter at a deep position. A first-team All-Pro spot is much harder to earn, because only one player at each position gets it.

Why they can disagree

A player can make one list without the other for several reasons.

1. Conference quotas. The Pro Bowl takes players from both conferences. If one conference has an unusually strong position group, some deserving players will be left out, while a weaker group in the other conference still sends representatives. The All-Pro team has no such limit.
2. Fan voting. Fans tend to vote for players they know, including stars at high-profile positions and players on popular teams. That does not make the results wrong, but it means that popularity can affect the outcome.
3. Different information. Coaches and players who face a player during the year may value things that fans and writers do not notice, such as how a lineman handles a particular technique.
4. Different timing. Some voting happens before the season ends, while other ballots are cast after the regular season. Information available at one time may not be available at another.
5. Different criteria. Voters may emphasize statistics, film study, reputation or some mixture of the three.

None of this means one list is "right." They answer slightly different questions. The Pro Bowl is closer to a recognition by the football community. The All-Pro team is closer to a critic's choice.

A hypothetical example

Imagine a season in which the league has four outstanding guards, and two of them play in the AFC and two in the NFC. The Pro Bowl takes the best guards from each conference, so all four could be selected, because each conference has room for several guards. An All-Pro ballot, by contrast, picks only a small number of guards for the entire league. The panel might name two on the first team and two on the second, or it might name one guard on the first team and a different pair on the second. Either way, the voters must rank players who never faced one another and who played in different systems.

Now imagine a fifth guard in the NFC who plays for a team that gets a lot of national attention. His reputation is high, and fans vote for him enthusiastically. Coaches who studied his film are less impressed. He makes the Pro Bowl as a reserve but does not appear on any All-Pro team. Nobody has made a mistake; the groups were asked slightly different questions and used different information.

The example also shows why positions with poor statistics are hard to judge. A guard has no sack total or yardage number that tells the story. Voters depend on film, on reputation and on conversations with people who play against him. That tends to produce lists that move slowly: a lineman who has been recognized in one year is likely to be recognized in the next, and a young player who has not yet built a name can be overlooked.

What the lists leave out

It helps to remember what these honors do not measure.

• They cover one season at a time. A player's selection says nothing about his longevity, though a run of selections says something about it.
• They depend on a limited view. Nobody can watch every snap by every player. Voters rely on game film, statistics and the opinions of people they trust.
• They are not predictions. A player who was an All-Pro last season may not repeat. Injuries, scheme changes and age all matter.
• They do not account for roles. Some of the most valuable players on a roster are those whose jobs are hard to quantify, such as a long snapper or a backup who steps in during an injury. The special-teams positions are included on the Pro Bowl ballot, which at least gives them some recognition.
• They can lag behind the game. When teams begin using players differently, such as a defender who lines up in several places, the ballot categories can take a few years to catch up.

Why the honors matter beyond bragging

Both lists affect real decisions.

Contracts

Player contracts often contain incentives tied to individual honors. A deal may include a bonus for making the Pro Bowl or for being named first-team All-Pro. The specifics vary from player to player. The point is that an honor can have a financial consequence. See our guide to how NFL contracts are structured for how incentives fit into the bigger picture.

Rookie contract rules

For players who were drafted in the first round, the fifth-year option is a mechanism for extending a rookie contract. The salary for that option depends in part on whether the player earned certain honors, including Pro Bowl selections, during his first years. The exact calculation is in the labor agreement and has been revised, but the principle is that a player who earns recognition earns a higher number. Our article on the fifth-year option goes into more detail.

The compensatory pick formula

The league's formula for awarding compensatory picks to teams that lose free agents takes into account a player's contract value, playing time and postseason honors. Honors are a small part of the picture, but they are in it. Our guide to the compensatory pick formula describes how.

Hall of Fame cases

When Hall of Fame voters consider a career, they look at many things, and the number of times a player was named to an All-Pro team is one of the first things people mention. Pro Bowl selections are also noted. Both counts are shorthand for sustained excellence. They do not decide the question, but they frame it. For how the voting works, see the Hall of Fame election process.

How to read the labels

A few habits help when you see these terms.

• Treat "Pro Bowler" as a broad compliment. It indicates that a player was recognized as among the better players at his position in his conference. It does not tell you whether he was the best.
• Treat "first-team All-Pro" as a high-water mark. It means that, in the view of the voters, the player was the best or tied for the best at his position that season.
• Count honors over time. One selection can be the result of a good year or even a lucky one. Several selections over many seasons suggest consistent quality.
• Watch the position. Some positions are more crowded or easier to judge by statistics. A running back's numbers are visible; an offensive lineman's contribution is harder to measure, so honors for linemen often rely on reputation and film.
• Do not confuse selection with performance. A player may be selected for what he did early in the season and then miss time. Check his actual production on his player page and in the league leaders tables.

Common misconceptions

"The Pro Bowl is the same as the All-Pro team." They are different lists with different voters and different sizes.

"A Pro Bowler must have played in the game." He is still a Pro Bowler for the season whether or not he took part in the event.

"All-Pro teams are official NFL honors." The most widely cited All-Pro team is chosen by a news organization, not by the league. The Pro Bowl is a league event.

"Fans decide the Pro Bowl." Fans are one of three voting groups.

"First-team All-Pro means the player was the best in the league at everything." It means he was the top choice at his position in that vote.

The short version

• The Pro Bowl is the NFL's all-star selection, with separate AFC and NFC rosters chosen by fans, players and coaches combined.
• The All-Pro team is a league-wide list chosen by a panel of media members, with a first team and a second team; the best-known version is the Associated Press team.
• The Pro Bowl is larger and reflects reputation as well as play; All-Pro is smaller and tends to be viewed as the tougher honor.
• Alternates replace selected players who are injured, playing in the Super Bowl or otherwise unavailable.
• Both lists can affect contract incentives, rookie contract rules, compensatory picks and Hall of Fame discussions.
• Formats, positions and voting methods change over time, so confirm current details with the league and the organizations that run the votes.