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It doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the Detroit Lions were shut out of the Associate Press’ 2019 All-Pro teams. No Lions player was named to the first nor second team for the second year in a row.
After a 3-12-1 season, it’s hard to point to any individual players that truly deserved to make the list this year. Sure, wide receiver Kenny Golladay led the NFL in touchdowns, but should he get in over the likes of Michael Thomas (1,725 yards), Chris Godwin (1,333 yards), Julio Jones (1,394) or DeAndre Hopkins (1,165)?
Frank Ragnow had a great year at center, but it would be hard to put him in over Eagles center Jason Kelce or Oakland’s Rodney Hudson.
That being said, two Lions players did receive All-Pro votes: the aforementioned Kenny Golladay and special teams returner Jamal Agnew. Golladay received one vote (among just six vote-getters), while Agnew received two at kick returner.
Interestingly enough, Agnew did not receive a single vote for punt returner, despite being one of six players to return a punt for a touchdown this year. Though, to be fair, the two punt returners named All Pro—Diontae Johnson and Deonte Harris—both also returned punts for touchdowns and averaged more yards per return than Agnew. Agnew was the only player in the NFL to return both a kickoff and a punt for a touchdown, but, unfortunately, those are separate positions on the All Pro team.
You can see all of the votes and the inductees to the 2019 All-Pro teams below (click to magnify):
The 2019 AP NFL All-Pro team rosters and voting in one big spreadsheet. pic.twitter.com/Q74rgdJj42
— René Bugner (@RNBWCV) January 3, 2020