2018 NFL All-Pro Team: Mahomes beats Brees, Steelers drama might have cost Antonio Brown spot

The Chiefs quarterback netted the award for top quarterback and the Colts youngsters look good

By Will Brinson

Jan 4, 2019 at 3:01 pm ET • 5 min read

The NFL season is complete, which means we're hurtling into awards season, including the designation of the 2018 NFL All-Pro team, which was announced by the Associated Press on Friday morning.

AP voting features 50 media members (our own Pete Prisco has a vote) making selections for each NFL position on both offense and defense.

You can see the full list below, but first, here are a few of the more fascinating storylines that caught my eye.

Mahomes over Brees

Typically speaking, the first-team All-Pro award is an indicator of who will win the NFL MVP award, because the voting body is the same. So expect Patrick Mahomes to beat out Drew Brees for the 2018 NFL MVP. If the two meet in the Super Bowl, hammer the Saints, because history has not been kind to the MVP, with multiple MVP winners falling in the game the very next day in recent years (including Cam Newton, Matt Ryan and Tom Brady in three of the last four years).

Mahomes has a perfectly good case for winning the award of course, having become just the second player to ever throw for 50 passing touchdowns and 5,000 passing yards in a season, along with Peyton Manning in 2013 (he also won MVP and lost the Super Bowl that year, by the way).

Brown not on the list, did Week 17 hurt him?

Disgruntled wide receiver Antonio Brown -- the subject of much trade speculation in recent days -- was not on either the first- or second-team All-Pro list after catching 104 passes for 1,297 yards and an NFL-best 15 receiving touchdowns in 2018. The guys who were ahead of him are certainly worthy, with Michael Thomas and DeAndre Hopkins of the Texans netting the first-team honors and Julio Jones of the Falcons and Tyreek Hill of the Chiefs getting second-team honors.

NBC Sports' Peter King, also a voter, went on televised radio with Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio and said he took Brown off his list because of the receiver no-showing Week 17.

Peter King says he took Antonio Brown off of his All-Pro ballot because of his situation with the Steelers. pic.twitter.com/v4GwPmi0Ey
— Jordan Heck (@JordanHeckFF) January 4, 2019

Whatever you think of the stance -- I personally don't agree with taking Brown off because of Week 17, but I do personally agree with having Brown off the list based on 2018 as a whole relative to other receivers -- is irrelevant. The point here is that it's possible Brown missed the list as a result of people changing their mind about the voting because of Brown's shenanigans in the final week of the 2018 NFL season. The deadline for voters to finalize their selections was Wednesday at noon ET, so many had to have had this story at the front of their minds while making their final picks.

Multiple Colts rookies

Indianapolis surged unexpectedly back into the playoffs this year. A lot of the reason why is Andrew Luck's play under center (talk about a lock for Comeback Player of the Year) and Frank Reich coaching the team up (I'd give him Coach of the Year). But another big reason is the play of two stud rookies: guard Quenton Nelson, the team's first-round pick, and linebacker Darius Leonard, one of the team's second-round picks.

Both of those guys, who have been exceptional all season long, were named to the first-team All-Pro list. That's rarefied air, and it explains why the Colts are in a good spot for several years to come, with a healthy Luck, some good skill-position players and a few stud rookies. Chris Ballard should be drawing widespread praise for those two names on this list.

All Gronk'd out

It would be weird if Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski was on this list -- he looks much older and unlike his usual explosive self, and his stats weren't that impressive this year (he played in just 13 games, caught just 47 passes for 682 yards and had only three touchdowns), but it's pretty wild to see two guys blast past him, with Travis Kelce securing the top spot on the All-Pro list and George Kittle getting the second. If there were a third team, Gronk wouldn't be on it either, thanks to Zach Ertz. This is not a knock on Gronk, just a note that the tight end position in the NFL is changing.

Double down on Derwin

Remember when Derwin James fell to the late part of the first round? Well, he ended up making All-Pro twice this year. He was listed as a first-team All-Pro safety and a second-team All-Pro defensive back by the voters, which is a weird thing to have happen, but it tells you how important and awesome he's been for the Chargers this year.

Here's a look at the full list, courtesy of NFL.com.