FOXBORO, Mass. — The NFL announced its 2020 Pro Bowl participants Tuesday night. Dont’a Hightower did not expect to be among them.
The veteran linebacker was one of three New England Patriots players voted to the Pro Bowl, along with cornerback Stephon Gilmore and special teamer Matthew Slater.
“It’s a huge honor, man,” Hightower said Wednesday. “I definitely was not planning on that this year. I definitely have, obviously, bigger goals ahead, but I appreciate my teammates, all the fans, everybody that voted, colleagues and all that good stuff. But hopefully, we’ve got bigger fish to fry.”
This is Hightower’s second career Pro Bowl selection and his first since 2016. In 13 games this season, the 29-year-old has 60 tackles, four sacks, seven tackles for loss, nine quarterback hits, three pass breakups and a fumble return for a touchdown.
Hightower’s Pro Bowl nod reportedly earned him a $500,000 bonus, but he said receiving this honor was not one of his personal goals this season. There’s another bowl he’d rather play in: Super Bowl LIV in Miami.
“I’m blessed, man,” Hightower said. “And that’s first and foremost. I’m blessed. But me seeing out gratification from other people, people that don’t necessarily see me work each and every day — which, I mean, that means a lot to me for those people, fans and everybody to see the work that I put in each and every day — but that’s not thing that I wrote down, like, ‘Pro Bowl.’ That’s not something that’s important to me. I appreciate it. I definitely do. I can’t say that enough. But I definitely have bigger goals.”
Several of Hightower’s fellow Patriots defenders also made strong cases for Pro Bowl consideration. He mentioned safety Devin McCourty and linebacker Jamie Collins when asked about these snubs.
“Being one of the guys who actually got voted is an honor,” Hightower said. “But obviously, there’s a lot of guys that deserve it.”
