Although it might not hold the same allure as the actual Super Bowl, the NFL Pro Bowl continues to be an attraction for many football fans. This year, the entire format has changed, and we now have what is being coined as The Pro Bowl Games. With that, comes a brand new two-day event, the first of which will be the Pro Bowl Skills Showdown.
How To Watch 2023 Pro Bowl Skills Showdown
- Date: Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023
- Time: 7 p.m. ET
- Channel: ESPN
- Live Streams: ESPN+, fuboTV
The 2023 Pro Bowl Skills Showdown will be the marquee event on Thursday, Feb. 2. The fun starts at 7 p.m. ET and can be watched on ESPN.
Events at the NFL’s Pro Bowl Skills Showdown
- Epic Pro Bowl Dodgeball: The first event at the Pro Bowl Skills Showdown will be the Epic Pro Bowl Dodgeball game. The standard classic dodgeball rules will apply in this three-round tournament. The first two rounds will feature AFC Offense vs. AFC Defense and NFC Offense vs. NFC Defense. The final round will feature the winning unit from each conference.
- Lightning Round: The Lightning Round is a new competition that will be added to the Pro Bowl Games this year. Here is how the NFL has described this new event.
- 16 players will compete from each conference, 32 total players.
- Three-part challenge that will eliminate players in each part until only one remains.
- Part 1 – Splash Catch. Pairs of teammates from the AFC and NFC will toss water balloons back and forth from increasing distances. Teams will advance to the next round if they complete all tosses.
- Part 2 – High Stakes. Players who advanced will make attempts to catch punts from a JUGS machine at varying distances and heights. Winners will advance to the finals.
- Final Part – Thrill of the Spill. Every player remaining will “aim at targets attached to a bucket hanging above the head of an opposing coach.” The first team to dump the bucket on the opposing coach wins.
- Longest Drive: In this prerecorded event that will air during the Pro Bowl Skills Showdown, eight Pro Bowlers, four from each conference, will compete in a traditional golf competition to hit the longest drive.
- Precision Passing: Two quarterbacks and one non-QB will participate in the traditional contest where there is a one-minute competition based on accuracy as all players throw at targets that are assigned different point values. We’ve seen this event a number of times in various formats.
- Best Catch (First Round): The Best Catch event will be divided into two rounds. The first round will be during the Pro Bowl Skills Showdown, and the finale will be during the actual Pro Bowl on Feb. 5. For Round 1, which was also prerecorded, two players from both the AFC and NFC will compete to show off their best receptions in various spots around Las Vegas. The first-round catches will then be voted on by the fans to determine the finalists for Sunday’s competition.
Who’s Participating in the Events in 2023?
The 2023 Pro Bowl roster has been fluid throughout the past few weeks. It all started with a fan vote, which was then combined with other voting factors to give us our preliminary list.
Then, with the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs making it to Super Bowl 57, alternates needed to be chosen to replace the 15 roster spots those two teams occupied. Here is the current Pro Bowl roster.
AFC
- Derek Carr (Replacing Joe Burrow)
- Trevor Lawrence (Replacing Patrick Mahomes)
- Tyler Huntley (Replacing Josh Allen)
- Josh Jacobs
- Derrick Henry
- Nick Chubb
- Pat Ricard
- Tyreek Hill
- Stefon Diggs
- Davante Adams
- Ja’Marr Chase
- Dawson Knox (Replacing Travis Kelce)
- Mark Andrews
- Laremy Tunsil
- Terron Armstead
- Dion Dawkins (Replacing Orlando Brown)
- Joel Bitonio
- Rodger Saffold (Replacing Quenton Nelson)
- Wyatt Teller (Replacing Joe Thuney)
- Ben Jones (Replacing Creed Humphrey)
- Mitch Morse
- Myles Garrett
- Maxx Crosby
- Trey Hendrickson
- Cameron Heyward (Replacing Chris Jones)
- Quinnen Williams
- Jeffery Simmons
- Matthew Judon
- Bradley Chubb (Replacing Khalil Mack)
- Matt Milano (Replacing T.J. Watt)
- Roquan Smith
- C.J. Mosley
- Sauce Gardner
- Pat Surtain II
- Marlon Humphrey
- Xavien Howard
- Minkah Fitzpatrick
- Derwin James
- Jordan Poyer
- Morgan Cox
- AJ Cole (Replacing Tommy Townsend)
- Justin Tucker
- Jamal Agnew (Replacing Devin Duvernay)
- Justin Hardee
NFC
- Jared Goff (Replacing Jalen Hurts)
- Kirk Cousins
- Geno Smith
- Saquon Barkley
- Dalvin Cook (Replacing Tony Pollard)
- Christian McCaffrey (Replacing Miles Sanders)
- Kyle Juszczyk
- Justin Jefferson
- Amon-Ra St. Brown (Replacing A.J. Brown)
- CeeDee Lamb
- Terry McLaurin
- George Kittle
- T.J. Hockenson
- Trent Williams
- Penei Sewell (Replacing Lane Johnson)
- Tristan Wirfs
- Zack Martin
- Elgton Jenkins (Replacing Landon Dickerson)
- Chris Lindstrom
- Tyler Biadasz (Replacing Jason Kelce)
- Frank Ragnow
- Nick Bosa
- Brian Burns
- Demarcus Lawrence
- Daron Payne (Replacing Aaron Donald)
- Jonathan Allen
- Dexter Lawrence
- Micah Parsons
- Za’Darius Smith
- Danielle Hunter (Replacing Haason Reddick)
- Fred Warner
- Demario Davis
- Jalen Ramsey (Replacing Darius Slay)
- Trevon Diggs
- Tariq Woolen
- Jaire Alexander
- Quandre Diggs
- Budda Baker
- Talanoa Hufanga
- Andrew DePaola
- Tress Way
- Jason Myers
- KaVontae Turpin
- Jeremy Reaves
