The Miami Dolphins were well represented this weekend at the 2024 NFL Pro Bowl Games in Orlando. It was the first time the Dolphins had at least six players initially selected to participate in the Pro Bowl since 2002 and the team's first time with five offensive players initially selected to participate since 1984.
All six Miami Pro Bowlers - tackle Terron Armstead, wide receiver Tyreek Hill, fullback Alec Ingold, running back Raheem Mostert, cornerback Jalen Ramsey and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa - played crucial roles in Miami's first 11-win campaign since 2008.
Tagovailoa earned his first Pro Bowl selection after posting a league-best 4,624 passing yards, a career-high 29 passing touchdowns and a franchise-record 69.3 completion percentage this season.
"It still hasn't sunk in," Tagovailoa said Friday when asked about the opportunity to spend the weekend with the NFL's elite.
"It's still cool to me. I see Peyton Manning. I remember when they had a practice in Hawaii when Peyton was going to the Pro Bowl. I was really young. I got to watch one of their practices and then we got to go to a game as well."
Tagovailoa's left tackle, Armstead, made his fifth Pro Bowl appearance while Hill enjoyed his eighth selection, becoming the first player who primarily plays wide receiver to begin his career with eight straight Pro Bowl nods.
"I've been dreaming of this since I was a kid," Hill said. "To be here now is truly amazing.
"I'm very grateful to be in the position I'm in. Just to be able to say I've done this eight times in my career, it's still surreal."
Like Hill, Ramsey has also been a regular at the Pro Bowl since entering the NFL in 2016 and made his seventh consecutive appearance this year.
"It feels a little different, maybe, but it's still fun, and it's really good to see some of the younger guys make it for their first time, their second time, whatever the case may be," he said.
One of Ramsey's favorite parts of the Pro Bowl experience is getting to talk with and be around many of the NFL's best players. Even better? Getting to do so with your own teammates.
"That's huge," said Ramsey as he described what it's like to be in Orlando with five of his teammates. "Out of all my years in the Pro Bowl, I think this is the most teammates I've ever had."
Ingold is one of those teammates that has garnered respect from the locker room and the league.
He came to Miami from Las Vegas in 2022 and has played in all 36 of the team's regular season and postseason games since. The former undrafted fullback out of Wisconsin signed a contract extension in August, was named the team's Don Shula Leadership Award Winner and Walter Payton Man of the Year Nominee this season and has now played in a Pro Bowl.
That first Pro Bowl feeling is equally as meaningful for Mostert, Ingold's fellow undrafted backfield partner.
"Being a little kid and just hoping and praying that I get to a moment like this in my career, my life, being able to play in a stadium like this with the Pro Bowl Games, I'm thrilled right now," Mostert said.
Mostert eclipsed 1,000 yards rushing this season for the first time in his nine-year NFL career and tied for the league lead with 21 rushing and receiving touchdowns.
His selection as the AFC's starting running back was a fitting recognition for a player who grew up less than an hour away from Orlando in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
"It's honestly a full circle moment for me. To be able to be back here, I watched high school games being played here, watched a lot of football being played in this exact stadium. It's just a full moment. It's a full moment, full circle."
