Jermaine Gresham Returns To Pro Bowl For Second Consecutive Year

And then there was three. On Thursday, the Cincinnati Bengals announced that tight end Jermaine Gresham would be heading to Hawaii for the second consecutive year. Gresham joins fellow 2011-2012 Bengals Pro Bowlers, A.J. Green and Geno Atkins as guys who have all gone the past two seasons. The three youngsters are quickly becoming the centerpieces of the up-and-coming Bengals team.

Gresham's entry to the Pro Bowl the past two years have come from being an alternate. The players selected ahead of him bowed out because of injury or their team participating in the Super Bowl, paving the way for his entry. This year, Gresham replaces the Steelers' Heath Miller, who ironically injured his knee in Week 16 versus the Bengals. Depending on how the Patriots do the rest of the postseason, Gresham is slated to join Rob Gronkowski at the position in Hawaii for the festivities.

Though he battled some consistency issues and had a rough playoff game against the Texans, Gresham had a solid 2012 season. He finished second on the team in yards (737) and in receptions (64) behind Green and both were personal bests. He had five touchdown receptions and was one of Andy Dalton's favorite targets during the season.

Marvin Lewis praised Gresham and his recent Pro Bowl berth, saying:

"It's great to hear that Jermaine is joining our group (of Pro Bowlers). He's been a very fine player since we drafted him, and he keeps getting better every week".