The NFL Pro Bowl is going away, and one Pittsburgh Steeler who has played in it is on board with that decision.

On Monday, the NFL announced that the annual postseason All-Star game will disappear starting this season. It will be replaced by a flag football game featuring the season’s Pro Bowlers. The first one will take place at Allegiant Stadium on Feb. 5. That’s one week before the Super Bowl. Leading up to the flag game will be a host of skills challenges and competitions.

Via NFL.com, “there will be a week’s worth of games and competitions among Pro Bowlers, centered around some of the skills competitions the league has staged in the past.” The contests will include dodgeball, races to determine the fastest man, “precision passing” and “best catch” competitions.

So it sounds like “Battle of the Network Stars” meets the NFL Draft Combine.

Corny? Yes. Still 10 times better than the Pro Bowl, though, if you ask me.

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I don’t even think the flag football game at the end of the weekend is necessary. But the league seems to want to further embrace the connection to (and cultivation of) flag football as a grassroots development tool for the game of football at large.

Defensive lineman and Steelers player rep Cameron Heyward has been to five Pro Bowls. And he thinks the plans to revamp the format are wise.

“Everything has got to evolve,” Heyward said. “The game has changed. I think a lot of guys are worried going into free agency about injuries. I can recount some guys actually getting hurt before their chance to negotiate contracts. So we have to be smart along with that.”

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I’ll only quibble with Heyward on one front. The Pro Bowl has never evolved. It’s devolved.

Into a half-hearted, quarter-speed, three-hour slog of an experience that never appeared all that fun to watch or play in on the field. Anyone who tuned in was probably just watching to make sure their favorite players didn’t get injured. Because for as much as NFL players were throttling down, it was still a tackle football game among extraordinarily powerful human beings. So injury risk was on the line.

According to Heyward, the new format will accomplish the same task of furthering outreach to fans during a dead week before the Super Bowl, while minimizing the injury risk.

“I know it’s a fans’ game, and we all want to take part, but at the same time, if people try to look at the players’ end, this is a great way. It’s a weeklong thing. So you look for it to just take on a mind of its own and be something that’s really great for our fans and community,” Heyward said.

It’s not clear what sort of skills competitions will be available to the bigger-bodied offensive and defensive linemen such as Heyward. The 33-year-old said he wants to get back into Pro Bowl form after two quiet weeks in regular-season action so he can partake in whatever form the event presents.

“I’ve got to start playing better so I can show off my skills,” Heyward said.

A sack or two against the New York Jets on Sunday would be a decent place to start.

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