The newly-revamped Pro Bowl Games will kick off Thursday night on ESPN, with several Cowboys taking part in various skills competitions.
Five events are to be broadcast from Las Vegas beginning at 7 p.m. ET, with more skills events and a triple-header of flag football matches finishing off the all-star festivities on Sunday.
Dallas has participants scheduled to play in two of the opening night’s contests.
The dodgeball competition will be a bracket-style tournament with four five-player teams, divided by offensive and defensive players and also by conference. The NFC offense will feature Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb; cornerback Trevon Diggs and linebacker Micah Parsons will play for the NFC defense.
Lightning Round is billed as a three-part elimination challenge that is part-elementary school field day, part football. Participants will start out competing in a water balloon toss; those who advance will then field punts from a JUGS machine. The last portion of the event will see finalists throwing footballs at a target in an attempt to dump a bucket of water on an opposing coach’s head.
Guard Zack Martin, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, center Tyler Biadasz, and return specialist KaVontae Turpin will represent the Cowboys in the Lightning Round.
A precision passing event featuring three quarterbacks from each conference, a longest golf drive competition (five players from each conference), and the opening round of the best catch contest (two players from each conference) will also be aired Thursday night.
Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs won last year’s best catch contest, beating out three wide receivers, including his brother Stefon of the Buffalo Bills.
On Sunday, the two highest vote-getters from the best catch contest will go head-to-head in the finale. Three kickers from each conference will play Kick-Tac-Toe, five players from each conference will race in a side-by-side agility relay, and two five-man squads from each conference will try to outmuscle one another in a best-of-three weighted wall pull.
Lawrence will compete on one of the NFC’s teams in that “Move the Chains” event; Martin and Biadasz are on the other.
Flag football will serve as the grand finale, with three games to be played. AFC and NFC teams will play 7-on-7 matches against one another: no linemen except for centers, who will only snap the ball and then kneel for the duration of each play (as is the rule in 7-on-7).
Biadasz will be one of the NFC’s centers. Lamb, Parsons, Diggs, and Turpin are skill-position members of the conference’s roster.