Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson named to NFL’s 2021 All-Pro team

Posted on January 14, 2022

Jason Kelce continues to rack up the accolades. The NFL announced Kelce as the center on the 2021 NFL All-Pro first team after he received 21 All-Pro votes. It’ll be his fourth overall first-team honor.

Kelce’s given up one sack in 993 snaps, the sixth time he’s allowed a single sack in a year. The 34-year-old also committed just one penalty, tied for his career-lowest in a single season.

Kelce’s blocking performances were, as usual, also stellar. Kelce finished with a 72% run block win rate — tied for the second-highest in the league — and a 96% pass block win rate, tied for fourth-best in the league.

Kelce’s career is slowly becoming more and more Hall-of-Fame worthy by the moment. As Thomas Petersen notes, Kelce is now one of only 12 centers in NFL history who have made four of more first team All-Pros. Those 11 others are in the HOF.

Below is the full first-team:

Lane Johnson Nabs A Spot On Second Team

Kelce wasn’t the only Eagles’ lineman to gain some recognition. Lane Johnson was named at the right tackle for the All-Pro Second Team after receiving 10 All-Pro votes. It’s Johnson’s second appearance on an All-Pro team (he made first team back in 2017).

Johnson ended with a 95% pass block win rate — second-most among tackles — although he didn’t crack the top-10 in run block win rate. Johnson was a bit more handsy than Kelce this year – he had six penalties in 13 games, his most since 2017.

Despite the nod, Johnson was oddly not selected for this year’s Pro-Bowl. Despite the Pro-Bowl being a tad overrated, Johnson was still pissed off over the snub. Hopefully that’ll give him some extra motivation heading into next season.

Was Darius Slay Snubbed?

There’s a very clear argument to be made that Darius Slay, who received only one All-Pro vote, was snubbed from the first team, and even second team.

Dallas’ Trevon Diggs had 11 interceptions this year — an amazing number to be sure — but he also gave up 907 yards (the most in the league), 496 total air yards on completion (seventh-most), and 411 yards after catch (third-most).

As PFF pointed out, Diggs has been subpar across the board once you get past the glamorous stats. Meanwhile, Slay allowed much less yardage (535, the 51st-most) while also rating as PFF’s fourth-highest cornerback in single coverage with a grade of 80.6.

Regardless of the missed honors, it was still a fantastic year for Slay. Meanwhile, the Eagles have to be breathing a sigh of relief that a highly-touted cornerback acquisition has finally paid off.

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Drew Rhoades

If there’s one thing you need to know about Drew Rhoades, it’s that he knows Philadelphia sports. A graduate from Saint Joseph’s University, Rhoades has previously written about Hawk sports for The Hawk Newspaper and covered baseball at Phillies Nation. In his spare time, he loves to volunteer at his local animal shelter and bike.

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