New Orleans Saints LB Demario Davis was selected to the Pro Bowl for the first time in his NFL career, it was announced tonight by the National Football League.
Davis' selection at the inside linebacker position marks the 15th consecutive season that the club has at least one Pro Bowl selection. While it is his first Pro Bowl selection, he has been voted as an Associated Press All-Pro for three consecutive seasons. In 2023, the event has been transformed into "The Pro Bowl Games", a week-long celebration of player skills in Las Vegas, featuring a new format that spotlights flag football. The multi-day AFC vs. NFC competition will culminate in an action packed flag game, featuring Pro Bowl players at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, February 5, 2023, which will be nationally televised on ESPN and ABC.
Davis has been a perfect fit on and off the field for the Saints since signing with the club as an unrestricted free agent in 2018, after originally entering the NFL as a third round draft pick of the New York Jets in 2012. In 2022, he has started all 14 games, one of only three Saints defenders to start every contest and leads the team in both tackles and sacks with 81 stops and a career-high 6.5 quarterback takedowns, to go with one interception, five passes defensed and one fumble recovery. With 11 more stops, Davis would become the first Saint to have 100 tackles in five straight campaigns. A staple for the team off the field as well in the Gulf South community, Davis was recently selected as the club's 2022 Man of the Year, making him the club nominee for the National Football League Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.
As a Saint, Davis has opened all 78 regular season games that he's played in for New Orleans as the team's defensive signal-caller and five-time defensive team captain, leading the club in tackles over the period with 534 stops (352 solo), 22.5 sacks, two interceptions, 33 passes defensed, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Davis has worked to foster improvement throughout the season of a group that has surrendered 20 or fewer points in six of the last seven contests, including the last five, tied for fourth in the NFL in red zone touchdown percentage and ranked seventh in opponent net passing yards per game.
Overall, in his 11th NFL season, Davis has posted 1,194 career tackles, 36 sacks, three picks, 50 passes defensed, three forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries.
Davis is the first Saints linebacker to be voted to the Pro Bowl since Jonathan Vilma in 2010.
