Pittsburgh Steelers guard David DeCastro won’t be playing in this year’s Pro Bowl as he has now backed out of the annual NFL All-Star game, according to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. DeCastro is being replaced on the AFC Pro Bowl roster by Cleveland Browns guard Joel Bitonio. DeCastro is reportedly backing out of this year’s Pro Bowl due to an unspecified injury.
DeCastro was originally voted to a fourth consecutive Pro Bowl in December after playing in 14 regular season games. He missed two games earlier in the season due to a fractured hand. The Steelers former first-round draft pick out of Stanford did not give up a sack this season.
DeCastro is now the second Steelers player voted to this year’s Pro Bowl to back out of the game due to injury as wide receiver Antonio Brown previously bowed out last week. Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster was quickly named as Brown’s replacement.
It will now be interesting to see how many other Steelers players decide to back out of this year’s Pro Bowl due to injury. Currently, running back James Conner, defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, center Maurkice Pouncey and tackle Alejandro Villanueva are all scheduled to join Smith-Schuster in Orlando, FL for the league’s annual All-Star game.
The Pro Bowl will be played on Sunday, Jan. 27 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
