For the first time in his career, Washington Redskins punter Tress Way was named the starter for the NFC team in the 2020 NFL Pro Bowl — an achievement that he’s been after for quite some time.
While the trip to play in the league’s all-star game in Orlando, Fla. won’t take place until January of 2020, Way enjoyed his day in the sun earlier this week as he told reporters how he found out, on a call from head coach Bill Callahan.
“I hear, ‘Tress, this is Coach Callahan,'” Way said, via NBC Sports Washington. “And my heart started frickin’ racing. And I was like, ‘Oh my god.’ I was in the car with my wife, and we’re talking, and he said, ‘Hey, I just want to let you know that you’re the starting punter for the NFC in the Pro Bowl.’ I said, ‘Are you serious?’ And he goes, ‘You are. You’ve done a heck of a job.'”
Not only was Way named to the Pro Bowl roster, but he was named the starter, cementing his place as one of the top punters in the NFL. It’s well deserved, too, as he’s put on an absolute clinic over the past two seasons. Way has pinned an opponent inside its 20-yard line 50 times the past two years and booted it into the end zone for a touchback just twice in 145 attempts over that time.
“I said, ‘Coach, thank you,'” Way said. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to hang up because my wife’s here, and I’m going to start crying.’ And he started laughing, and I hung up. I looked at my wife and I kind of had some tears in my eyes and she goes, ‘It’s the Pro Bowl, isn’t it?’ And I just lost it.”
Way is one of four players on the Redskins to be named to the 2020 NFL Pro Bowl, but he is undoubtedly the most deserving.
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