A pair of former Mississippi State football players, Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones and Jacksonville Jaguars punter Logan Cooke, were named Pro Bowlers on Thursday.

Jones played for the Bulldogs from 2013 through 2015, recording 18 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks in his college career. The Chiefs drafted him in the second round in 2016, and he has turned into one of the NFL’s best defensive linemen, with at least 15 sacks in 2018 and 2022.

The three-time Super Bowl champion from Houston, Mississippi, has been named All-Pro each of the last two years, and was just selected to his sixth consecutive Pro Bowl. In the 2022-23 AFC Championship Game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Jones had two sacks and three tackles for loss and registered five quarterback hits.

Cooke grew up in Columbia, Mississippi, and he punted 10 times for MSU as a freshman in 2014 before becoming the starter the following year. In his four years in Starkville, Cooke averaged 41.7 yards per punt, then became a seventh-round draft pick in 2018 by the Jaguars.

He has been Jacksonville’s punter ever since and is averaging a career-best 49.4 yards per punt this season, which earned Cooke his first Pro Bowl selection. Half of his punts this season have pinned the Jaguars’ opponents inside their own 20-yard line.

The Bulldogs have had at least one former player reach the Pro Bowl in 10 straight years, and this is their sixth consecutive season with multiple selections. This year’s Pro Bowl Games will consist of a weeklong skills competition leading up to a 7-on-7 flag football game on Feb. 2 in Orlando, Florida.