Ja'Marr Chase earns NFL's highest honor as Bengals breakout star is snubbed

The Cincinnati Bengals received some good news on their best receiver that eases the blow of sitting at home whilst the NFL playoffs get underway on Wild Card Weekend Saturday.

Ja'Marr Chase was named a first-team All-Pro by The Associated Press for the second season in a row. Glad to see voters didn't punish him for that infamous Spitgate spat with Jalen Ramsey. Chase played so well that I almost already forgot about it.

Or maybe I almost forgot about it because I'm still reeling from Duke Tobin's press conference yesterday. Who's to say?

Anyway, the All-Pro team votes were also a grim reminder/Tobin-related trigger that the defense is miles away from being acceptable, both from an actual on-field standpoint and by way of league-wide and media perception.

Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase earns first-team All-Pro selection, DJ Turner fails to crack second team

Rob Maaddi of The Associated Press broke the news of his outlet's first- and second-team All-Pro picks. What's truly wild to me is the fact that DJ Turner only got one single vote, per Maaddi, which ranked tied for 13th among cornerbacks.

Just to get ahead of things a bit, Ja'Marr is absolutely worthy to stand alongside Rams star Puka Nacua and the Seahawks' new NFL leader in receiving yards, Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Chase backed up his Triple Crown 2024 campaign this year with 125 catches, 1,412 yards, and eight TDs. Bear in mind, three different QBs were throwing him the ball throughout the season.

As for those who were selected ahead of Turner, well, it's not like they were undeserving. I'll dive into them in a minute. Turner's exclusion is more a reflection of how bad the Bengals' defense was in its totality than an indictment of his individual performance.

In fact, I shudder to think what Cincinnati's D would look like this season without Turner taking a major leap forward in his third NFL season. Good thing he did.

PFF grades can be deceiving at times. Not when it comes to DJ Turner's ability to lock down his side of the field. Among predominant-boundary cornerbacks, Turner who played 500+ snaps against the pass, only Carolina's Mike Jackson (80.9) had a better grade than Turner's 78.1 mark in coverage.

Devon Witherspoon beating out DJ Turner for Second-Team All-Pro exposes flawed, inconsistent voting criteria

You can sell me on Derek Stingley Jr., reigning Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain II, and Eagles star Quinyon Mitchell. They're all studs. Tough club for Turner to get VIP access to.

And I love me some Devon Witherspoon. He's a not-insignificant reason why that Seahawks defense carried Sam Darnold (kidding, sort of) to the NFC's No. 1 seed.

If memory serves, I believe I had Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Devon Witherspoon third and fourth respectively on my 2023 NFL Draft big board. Big fan of what Seattle did there.

Read More: Bengals' 2026 success may hinge on one overlooked offensive adjustment

All those qualifiers aside, what are AP voters even doing? I get that you want to reward an elite defense like the Seahawks with as many All-Pros as possible. But let's be honest: Witherspoon is an honorary, um, honoree?

'Spoon missed five games this season; Turner missed zero. Although he lined up for 386 snaps on the boundary, Witherspoon also played 237 reps in the slot, and 98 in the box. He should've gotten the slot cornerback spot over Chargers defensive back Derwin James if anything.

Of course, Witherspoon is a superior run defender and blitzer to Turner, but that's thanks in large part to how many different places he lines up in Seattle's exotic scheme. DJ allowed a 77.3 passer rating on a far larger sample size to Witherspoon's 99.8.

Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. Just a bummer that Turner got left out in the All-Pro cold. Oh well. All the more motivation to be better than ever in 2026! Let's gooooo DJ — WHO DEY!!!

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