With all Broncos and Panthers focused on a far more important game, and a massive amount of original Pro Bowlers withdrawing (including, to no surprise, every single Patriot), take a look at the lineup you could field from just those players, and then compare it to those of the teams that were drafted from the remaining players.
| All-Withdrawal Team | Team Rice | Team Irvin | |||
| QB | Cam Newton | QB | Eli Manning | QB | Russell Wilson |
| RB | Jonathan Stewart | RB | Adrian Peterson | RB | Todd Gurley |
| WR | Demaryius Thomas | RB | Doug Martin | WR | AJ Green |
| WR | Antonio Brown | WR | Odell Beckham, Jr. | WR | Julio Jones |
| WR | Brandon Marshall | WR | TY Hilton | WR | DeAndre Hopkins |
| TE | Rob Gronkowski | TE | Travis Kelce | TE | Tyler Eifert |
| LT | Trent Williams | LT | Joe Thomas | LT | Tyron Smith |
| LG | Mike Iupati | LG | Logan Mankins | LG | Zack Martin |
| C | Ryan Kalil | C | Nick Mangold | C | Travis Frederick |
| RG | Trai Turner | RG | Richie Incognito | RG | Marshal Yanda |
| RT | Jason Peters | RT | Joe Staley | RT | Andrew Whitworth |
| DL | JJ Watt | DE | Everson Griffen | DE | Michael Bennett |
| DL | Kawann Short | DT | Gerald McCoy | DT | Geno Atkins |
| OLB | Von Miller | DE | Aaron Donald | DT | Calais Campbell |
| ILB | Luke Kuechly | OLB | Elvis Dumervil | DE | Carlos Dunlap |
| ILB | Thomas Davis | ILB | Bobby Wagner | SLB | Anthony Barr |
| OLB | Justin Houston | ILB | Clay Matthews | MLB | NaVorro Bowman |
| SS | Kam Chancellor | OLB | Khalil Mack | WLB | Lavonte David |
| FS | Earl Thomas | SS | Charles Woodson | SS | Reshad Jones |
| CB | Chris Harris, Jr. | FS | Eric Berry | FS | Harrison Smith |
| CB | Aqib Talib | CB | Vontae Davis | CB | Richard Sherman |
| CB | Josh Norman | CB | Marcus Peters | CB | Desmond Trufant |
The only possible weakness that the All-Withdrawal Team has is having to play in nickel defense due to the lack of defensive linemen (I didn’t include Muhammad Wilkerson as he’s one of the few players that legitimately can’t play due to injury). But other than that, the defense is superior, and while most of the offensive positions are comparable, the All-Withdrawal Team has by far the best quarterback, helped by the fact that four other quarterbacks pulled out as well (Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Carson Palmer, and of course Tom Brady).
Despite all this, while the players don’t like actually playing in the Pro Bowl, but they do like getting a trip to Hawaii. Meanwhile, the league office is still able to generate some revenue by televising the event. Sadly, the only thing that might kill the Pro Bowl game itself is if one player steps the wrong way in a non-contact move that causes an ACL tear.