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It turns out the Detroit Lions will be sending two players to the 2019 NFL Pro Bowl. On Wednesday evening, the team announced that long snapper Don Muhlbach will be headed to the All-Star event in Orlando, Florida.
This will be the second time Muhlbach has made the Pro Bowl, the previous time being after the 2012 season.
The reason Muhlbach wasn’t originally named to the Pro Bowl is simple: Pro Bowl long snappers are decided by the coaches of each All-Star team. The Chargers coaching staff, who will be in charge of the AFC, chose Broncos long snapper Casey Kreiter as their long snapper on Wednesday.
The NFC team will be coached by the Dallas Cowboys’ staff. As pointed out by Justin Rogers of the Detroit News, there are a few coaches on that staff that are more than familiar with Muhlbach:
Muhlbach was selected to the Pro Bowl by the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff. There are four coaches on that staff with Lions ties -- Linehan, Marinelli, Kellen Moore and Kyle Valero.
— Justin Rogers (@Justin_Rogers) January 16, 2019
Muhlbach will join cornerback Darius Slay as the two representatives from the Lions. Defensive back Quandre Diggs was named an alternate for the game, but at this point, he has not been named to the All-Star game. The Rams and Saints didn’t have any defensive backs named to the Pro Bowl, so Diggs won’t jump a spot because of a Super Bowl replacement.