NFL Pro Bowl: Arizona Cardinals Send Three Players, Calais Campbell Noticeably Absent

The season has almost come to a close for the Arizona Cardinals, but with a little help from fan voters, the team was able to send three players to Hawaii in late January. Veterans Larry Fitzgerald and Adrian Wilson are perennial participants in the NFL Pro Bowl and this time, they'll get to bring the electrifying rookie, Patrick Peterson with them.

You may have noticed that defensive end Calais Campbell is not one of the players listed above. After the jump, let's find out why these players did or didn't make the cut.

Fitz was an obvious pick for this prestigious award. This will be Fitzgerald's sixth all expenses paid visit to Hawaii, where he will play as a starting wide receiver alongside Calvin Johnson. Despite all quarterback issues that the team went through this season, Fitzgerald will likely end up with more than 1,300 yards receiving and eight or nine touchdowns.

Adrian Wilson may have had a slow start to the season, but he came on towards the latter end of the year. Playing through a torn biceps muscle that had the potential to put him out for the season, A-Dub has racked up 62 tackles, a forced fumble and one interception through 15 games. He will be the starting strong safety of the NFC team for the fifth time in his career, according to Darren Urban of azcardinals.com.

The last Cardinal to make it was rookie cornerback, Patrick Peterson. Unfortunately, Peterson wasn't able to make the roster as a corner this year, but due to his record tying four punt return touchdowns, he was able to beat out great players like Devin Hester and Darren Sproles for the kick returner spot. It is to be seen if Peterson will participate in the Pro Bowl after injuring his Achilles against the Cincinnati Bengals last Saturday. PP is just one of four rookies to make it to Hawaii this season.

Three guys that were left off of the rosters and the rights to represent the NFC were Darnell Dockett, Daryl Washington and Calais Campbell. Dockett is listed as a second alternate as an interior lineman behind Ndamukong Suh, so there is a chance that he still makes it in. As for Campbell and Washington, they will unfortunately be missing out this time around.

Campbell came on strong for the Cards this season, leading the team with eight sacks (his personal career best). He also has 71 tackles, two forced fumbles, three blocked field goals and an interception that was mailed to him by Michael Vick in week 10 against the Eagles. Personally, I would have liked to see Calais make it, but after taking a look at who is ahead of him, I wouldn't say that he was "snubbed." He had a great season, but the Pro Bowl voters look for the defensive ends that have the most sacks and he just didn't measure up to the likes of Jared Allen, Jason Babin and Jason Pierre-Paul.

As Alex Mann pointed out in his FanPost yesterday, Daryl Washington is another player that might have deserved some consideration. He logged 95 tackles, four sacks and two picks in 2011 as a starting inside linebacker. As of now, both he and Campbell aren't really household names so to speak. As the Cardinals continue to win games, more guys will gain more notoriety throughout the league and fans will take notice. The San Francisco 49ers are a great example, as they will be sending eight players to the Pro Bowl this season.

What do you think about the Cardinals that made it to the Pro Bowl this year? Do you feel the three that got voted in deserve to go? What about Campbell and Washington? Did they get snubbed? Leave your comments below.

Note: If you wanted to see the entire roster for the Pro Bowl, click here.

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