Report: NFL considers moving Pro Bowl to Arizona

Larry Fitzgerald and Big Red could be closer to home for the 2015 Pro Bowl. (USATSI)

Pro Bowlers might not be getting a Hawaiian vacation at the end of the 2014 season. That's because the NFL is thinking about moving the game to the site of Super Bowl XLIX, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

Super Bowl XLIX is scheduled to be played at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on Feb. 1, 2015. If the Pro Bowl were to move to Arizona, it would presumably be played Jan. 25, 2015 at the same location.

The Pro Bowl has been played in Hawaii in 34 of the past 35 seasons. The only exception came in 2009 when the NFL also moved the game to the Super Bowl site. Both the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl were played in Miami following the 2009 season. That was also the season the NFL moved the game to the week before the Super Bowl. Before that, the Pro Bowl was generally played the week after the Super Bowl.

Besides Miami and Honolulu, the Pro Bowl has also been held in Dallas, Kansas City, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Seattle and Tampa. According to the Press-Gazette, the reason behind the move is that the league wants to 'raise the revenue and the profile of the game.'

If the NFL does move the game to Arizona, the decision would probably start controversy almost immediately. The state is currently considering legislation that would allow businesses to refuse service to gay people if the refusal was based on religious beliefs.

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Giants expecting young WRs to step up next season



With Hakeem Nicks' chances of returning to the Giants next season "close to zero," in-house youngsters such as Rueben Randle and Jerrel Jernigan are expected to pick up the slack. One person with such expectations is Giants general manager Jerry Reese.Via NFL.com's Chris Wesseling, Reese said Saturday that he is confident Randle will make a "significant jump" in 2014, and that Jernigan "finally looked like the player" who the team selected in the third round of the 2011 draft.Randle, a second-round pick in 2012, caught 41 passes this season. He had a six-week span in the middle of the year in which he scored five of his six touchdowns. Jernigan came on late in the season as he caught 19 passes for 237 yards and three total touchdowns in the final three games.



Victor Cruz is the rock in this receiving corps. Randle and Jernigan can be solid complementary players if they can carry what they displayed in short bursts this season through a 16-game slate. And considering the year that Nicks just had, they can't be any worse, and they'll come much cheaper. Eli Manning has plenty of concerns after such a horrid campaign, but losing the injury-plagued Nicks shouldn't be one of them.