Josh Sweat was named a Pro Bowl alternate this year. On Wednesday, he made clear he wasn't happy about it.
"Shoot, maybe I'm crazy," the linebacker said. "Y'all let me know if I'm crazy. I don't know. I mean, I had my best season, and from the start of the voting to the end of the voting (I was top 5), I was top five in sacks, second in the NFC, number one in forced fumbles. I don't know what else I could've done.
"Previous years, maybe you could've said, 'He didn't have the popularity. He didn't get the fan vote.' This year I was second in the NFC in fan voting. Know what I'm saying? What else did they want me to do? The popularity was there. You can say 'losing team,' but I had the popularity. What else could I have done? I am the only double-digit sack guy that didn't make it, the one with the most forced fumbles, and then say, 'This is the guy we're going to leave out.' I don't care about a losing team. This is an individual thing. That's why I am so upset."
Sweat has 11.0 sacks this season, tying his career high. He has four forced fumbles and 12 tackles for loss, even while playing just 50 percent of the defensive snaps as part of the Cardinals' carefully constructed outside linebacker rotation.
The three outside linebackers chosen for the NFC are the Giants' Brian Burns and the Rams tandem of Jared Verse and Byron Young.
"Whoever made it, that's not their fault," Sweat emphasized. "They didn't do it. I just don't know how you look at all the people and say, 'This is who we should leave out.'"
Asked about how it was the players and coaches vote that seemed to swing the decision, Sweat said "we don't know that."
"The only thing they show is the fan vote," he added. "In previous years, I was first alternate pretty much every single time and I didn't have the fan vote. This year, I got the fan vote and you're going to tell me all of a sudden players and coaches don't respect me anymore? Hell no, man. Stop playin' with me.
"Before I get fined and all that other (expletive), I gotta chill out."
Sweat made the Pro Bowl in 2021, as an alternate.
"I'm upset because the fans that actually went out and voted for me, it meant nothing at the end of the day," he said. "And I am upset because there are only two individual (honors) you can get, Pro Bowl and All-Pro. And I got one taken away from me. I'm just flat out saying it."
