When this year’s Pro Bowl rosters were first announced, safety Earl Thomas was the Seattle Seahawks’ lone representative.
By the time Sunday rolls around, three-fourths of the Seahawks secondary will be represented at Aloha Stadium.
Safety Kam Chancellor and cornerback Brandon Browner were added as late replacements earlier this week, rewarded for their efforts in helping a 2-6 Seattle team bounce back to get into the playoff hunt late in the season.
Chancellor was part of head coach Pete Carroll’s first draft as Seahawks head coach, taken in the fifth round in 2010 out of Virginia Tech.
He led the team with 75 solo tackles and had four interceptions, combining with Thomas to become one of the top safety tandems in the league.
"It’s big for us to all be out here," Chancellor said. "Just to see us all out here and knowing we’re just starting out, the sky’s the limit."
There might not be a more unlikely Pro Bowler than Browner, who a year ago was wrapping up his fourth season in the Canadian Football League.
Undrafted in 2005 out of Oregon State, Browner signed as a free agent with the Denver Broncos. He spent that season on injured reserve and was released the following summer, leaving him to sign with the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders.
He was all-league his final three years before the Seahawks gave him a second shot in the NFL.
In his first season, the 6-foot-4 Browner won a starting spot and led the team with six interceptions, returning two for touchdowns and setting the Seahawks’ club record for interception-return yardage.
"It’s exceeded a lot of people’s expectations for me," Browner said. "My goal was just to make the team and I wind up starting and playing well and now I’m in Hawaii."
Finding guys like Browner has been a top priority for Carroll and Seahawks management, who in two years have overhauled the team’s roster. All five Pro Bowlers from Seattle, including running back Marshawn Lynch, whom the Seahawks traded for during the 2010 season, are in their first two years with the team.
The Seahawks hadn’t had a Pro Bowl representative the past two years, just another sign that things are headed in the right direction.
"I know there’s a whole team around him upstairs, but I’m sure (Carroll) has a lot to do with bringing guys like me in here," Browner said. "We’ve got a lot of Pac-10 guys on our team and he’s seen a bunch of us playing against him when he was at USC."
After starting 2-6, the Seahawks won five of their next six games to get into the playoff hunt. They were eliminated by division rival San Francisco, losing 19-17 on Christmas Eve in what Browner called the "most physical" game of the season.
From the coaches — Carroll and San Francisco’s Jim Harbaugh were conference rivals in college — to the players, the NFC West might have finally found its first legitimate rivalry.
"Some of those 49ers guys (are) kind of giving me a little stare walking around here, but it’s all competition and off the field we’re becoming close," said Thomas, who will start on Sunday. "Hopefully it’ll be a war every year."
