The 2025 Pro Bowl game will be on Sunday, February 2nd, and two former spring and current NFL stars have made the selection. Two of spring football’s brightest stars have been declared among the NFL’s best.
KaVontae Turpin
Dallas Cowboys / New Jersey Generals (USFL)
It’s no surprise that KaVontae Turpin one of the most exciting and explosive players in the NFL this year is making his second Pro Bowl appearance. As a wide receiver and return specialist for the Dallas Cowboys, Turpin has been one of the few bright spots for their struggling offense. Throughout the season, the former New Jersey Generals MVP has been breaking records in his second year in the NFL with his athletic prowess and eye-popping speed.
In 2022, Turpin’s first season in the NFL, he earned Pro Bowl honors as a return specialist, averaging 24.2 yards on 21 kick returns. Turpin leads the NFL in kick returns by an even wider margin this season. He’s returned 16 of 26 kickoffs for 874 yards, including a 99-yard touchdown. He added another 186 yards with one touchdown on 17 punt return attempts.
As a punt return specialist in week 2, Turpin scored on a 60-yard touchdown. It was Turpin’s first career touchdown return for the Cowboys. In one of the most explosive NFL plays of the year in week 11, Turpin scored a 64-yard touchdown against the Houston Texans. Running at a speed of over 22 mph, Turpin torched the Texans’ defense.
But Turpin’s best play this year was in week 12 when he initially muffed a kickoff reception. After recovering the ball, Turpin executed a stunning spin move and broke free of the Washington Commanders’ defense for a 99-yard touchdown return. It was the NFL’s longest return this year and an amazing feat of athleticism and heads-up play.
Brandon Aubrey
Dallas Cowboys / Birmingham Stallions (USFL)
The second former spring football player to make the Pro Bowl this year is Turpin’s Cowboys teammate, kicker Brandon Aubrey. The former Birmingham Stallions kicker is one of the leading field goal kickers in the NFL, converting 36 of 43 field goals this year. Only Chris Boswell, the Pittsburgh Steelers veteran placekicker, has more kicks with 40 of 43 field goals.
Aubrey put the NFL on notice earlier this year when he kicked the second-longest field goal in history, a stunning 65-yarder. Aubrey owns the franchise record for Dallas for the most field goals tying his record from last year at 36. With one regular season game left this weekend, Aubrey could set a new franchise record for the Cowboys.
One other UFL star made the Pro Bowl roster. Jake Bates, the Detroit Lions rookie kicker and former Michigan Panthers star was named an alternate. Bates has become quite the media sensation this year, thrilling fans and inspiring memes with his long-distance kicking ability and sideline stretches. But the story of Bates’ successful career launch from Houston brick salesman to achieving stardom in the UFL and ultimately finding a home with the Lions is what fans find truly engaging.
Bates’s success along with Turpin and Aubrey proves once again that spring football is a definite pathway to success in the NFL.
