All-Pro recognition for Texans’ Derek Stingley Jr., Will Anderson Jr., Danielle Hunter

HOUSTON – When the NFL announced its final Pro Bowl balloting, one of the biggest perceived snubs was not including star defensive end Danielle Hunter.

Hunter is a five-time Pro Bowl selection who didn’t make this year’s Pro Bowl despite recording 15 sacks. The voting was split between himself and Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr., who was named to the first-team and there are no alternates this year for offensive and defensive linemen due to the flag football format for the Pro Bowl games.

Saturday morning, Hunter was named a second-team All-Pro while Anderson and Derek Stingley Jr. were named first-team All-Pros.

Hunter finished third in the NFL in sacks and recorded 54 tackles, 15 tackles for losses, three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery. He had one game with a career-high tying 3 1/2 sacks, four tackles for losses, four quarterback hits and one forced fumble.

He became the only player in franchise history and the third player in the NFL this season to record at least 3.5 sacks, four tackles for loss and one forced fumble in a single game. Hunter has now reached 14 or more sacks four times in his career, becoming the 13th player in NFL history to accomplish the feat. Hunter is not a self-promoter and he has a low-key personality. He simply does his job in outstanding fashion with a high standard.

“I promise he gets a lot of attention from opposing offenses, so I’ll start there,” Texans defensive coordinator Matt Burke said. “He’s a quiet guy. Probably the quietest 15-sack season maybe in a while. So, I don’t really know. Again, I’m not sure that he has a lot of focus outside being the best he can be and being a good player. Again, I have zero social media presence or anything, so I’m not sure what his marketability is in that world.

‘But he’s a great player, a really good player for us. Likes to come to work and try to get better. Whatever this year is for him, 12 years in the league, and he’s still trying to perfect his craft and improve. Had an excellent season for us, and I hope it continues moving forward.”

This represents the first time two Texans were first-team All-Pro since 2018 when J.J. Watt and DeAndre Hopkins were both named first-team All-Pro. It’s the first time the Texans had three players on the All-Pro team since Jadeveon Clowney, Benardrick McKinney and Whitney Mercilus were second-team selections in 2016.

Stingley is the only cornerback in franchise history to earn Associated Press first team All-Pro honors while Anderson joins Watt and Stingley as the only three defensive players in team history to earn the award. Anderson and Hunter become the first edge duo since 2010 (New York Giants’ Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora) to each receive All-Pro honors in the same season.

Stingley made it for the second consecutive year.

He is avoided for the most part by opposing quarterbacks because of his rare coverage skills and penchant for intercepting passes.

He recorded 36 tackles, 15 passes defensed and four interceptions for a defense that finished the season ranked first in the NFL in total yards allowed per game (277.2), second in points allowed per game (17.4) and allowed the league’s third-lowest passer rating (76.2). He is the only cornerback in the NFL to record at least four interceptions in each of the previous three seasons.

He returned his first interception for a touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders and forced a fumble. He was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week. He led all cornerback ballots with 130 votes.

“He can do anything he wants to do,” Texans nickel Jalen Pitre said. “He’s the best cornerback in the league. He could play receiver. I don’t know if y’all have seen him on a juke, but he could play running back. And I know y’all haven’t seen him at practice, but he also could play quarterback. There’s nothing he can’t do.”

Anderson was named first-team All-Pro honor for the first time and had career highs in nearly every major category, including total tackles (54), tackles for loss (20), sacks (12) and three forced fumble. He also recorded the first fumble recovery touchdown of his career against the Seattle Seahawks. His 20 tackles for loss ranked fourth in the AFC, while his sacks ranked fifth.

According to Next Gen Stats, Anderson finished with the second-most quarterback pressures in the NFL (85) and the third-highest pressure rate (20.5 percent) among players with at least 200 pass-rush snaps. He also set the NFL record for most third-down pressures (48) in a single season in the Next Gen Stats era.

Pitre finished third in the All-Pro voting behind the Philadelphia Eagles’ Cooper DeJean and Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James.

Texans safety Calen Bullock, who intercepted four passes along with Pitre, Stingley and cornerback Kamari Lassiter, finished sixth in the balloting for All-Pro. He got 17 votes, including three first-place votes.

Pro Bowl wide receiver Nico Collins finished seventh behind Puka Nacua, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Ja’Marr Chase, George Pickens, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Chris Olave.

Texans Pro Bowl linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair was seventh behind Jack Campbell, Jordyn Brooks, Devin Lloyd, Ernest Jones IV and Carson Schwesinger.

And Lassiter was seventh, too, ranked behind Stingley, Quinyon Mitchell, Patrick Surtain II, Devon Witherspoon, Christian Gonzalez, Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson.

The tandem of Anderson and Hunter combined for 27 sacks and they are widely known as the top pass rushing duo in the NFL.

“Danielle has meant everything to our defensive success,” Ryans said. “With him, we added a guy to our team as a free agent two years ago who already had success as a pass rusher when he was in Minnesota. He was always getting after the quarterback, double-digit sack guy. So, to add him with a young guy in Will we added a guy who not only is productive, but he’s also a selfless guy who is willing to teach the other young guys how it’s done, how he’s had success in his career.

“That’s the biggest thing that I’ve seen from him is his willingness to share the gift that he has and his little tricks of the trade and how he can beat guys on a consistent basis. Him sharing that information has helped a lot of our guys have some success.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com