Packers guard Josh Sitton is named to his first Pro Bowl

Green Bay Packers guard Josh Sitton was named to the Pro Bowl Sunday. He replaces Mike Iupati of San Francisco, who cannot go to Hawaii because the 49ers will be at the Super Bowl the following week.

Iupati was elected as a starter for the NFC team in Honolulu. Sitton is the automatic replacement because he was chosen as the first alternate.

Sitton is a fifth-year pro who received his first Pro Bowl bid. He started every game at right guard for the Packers in the 2012 season, including the playoffs.

Sitton will join center Jeff Saturday, who was both elected to the NFC squad as a reserve.

Linebacker Clay Matthews also was elected to the squad as a reserve, but has bowed out because of a hamstring injury. He missed four games this season because of the injury, but he hardly looked hurt when he had seven sacks in his final five contests, including the playoffs.

Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers was elected to start, but he won’t be going due to a reported knee injury.

Green Bay’s coaching staff will lead the NFC team for the second straight year. The highest-seeded team that lost in the divisional round gets that honor.

Sitton was one of two first-alternates at his position, along with kick returner Randall Cobb. Other alternates are John Kuhn, B.J. Raji, Tramon Williams and Charles Woodson.

Wisconsin’s Joe Thomas a finalist for NFL Man of the Year

Brookfield native Joe Thomas is one of three finalists for the NFL’s Man of the Year award. Thomas starred at Wisconsin before the Cleveland Browns made him the No. 3 overall pick in the 2007 draft.

Thomas is married to the former Annie Nelson of Hudson. They met when both were students at the University of Wisconsin. Annie was a member of the Badger women’s basketball team.

Thomas joins Arizona receiver Larry Fitzgerald and Dallas tight end Jason Witten as the finalists for the Man of the Year award. The nominees were announced Sunday night, during halftime of the AFC Championship Game.

The award is named in honor of the late Chicago Bears star Walter Payton. It’s the only NFL honor which recognizes player contributions off the field as well as on.

Thomas has played every snap for the Browns in his six-year NFL career, and he has made the Pro Bowl each season. In 2010, Thomas traveled over 14,000 miles to visit troops in Afghanistan as part of a USO Tour. The NFL says he’s still in contact with many of the troops he met on that trip.

He has also supported a national effort by the USO to raise funds to support those in the military.

A year ago, Thomas went to the Pentagon to take part in an NFL-sponsored campaign to help educate people about the effects of traumatic brain injuries.

He’s also the largest contributor to Cleveland’s “Kids in Need Resource Center,” which provides school supplies to 180 schools in impoverished areas. Thomas also is part of a host of other charities.

Tags: wi sports, sports, proam