NEW YORK — The NFL announced today that Pro Football Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Steve Young will be the head coaches for the 2026 Pro Bowl Games powered by Verizon. Rice will coach the NFC while Young will lead the AFC.
For the first time, the 2026 Pro Bowl Games powered by Verizon will move to Super Bowl LX Week in the San Francisco Bay Area. The event brings the league's top players together for an AFC vs. NFC flag football showdown, which will preview the elite athleticism and competition of the sport ahead of its LA28 Olympics debut. The revamped programming gives the league's best athletes an opportunity to compete during the NFL's biggest week of the year, surrounded by their families, friends, and select fans, and provides all fans with a must-see TV event that helps culminate the end of the season.
The televised event will air live from San Francisco's Moscone Center South Building on Tuesday, Feb. 3, which will be transformed into a dynamic flag football arena. Coverage of the Pro Bowl Games powered by Verizon will begin on ESPN starting at 6:30 p.m. ET with the flag game at 8 p.m. ET. The game will air on ESPN, Disney XD and ESPN Deportes.
Rice, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2010, is the most prolific wide receiver in NFL history, holding regular season records in receptions (1,549), receiving yards (22,895), touchdown receptions (197), scrimmage yards (23,540) and total touchdowns (208). He also holds multiple playoff records, including receiving yards (2,245) and touchdown receptions (22), including an NFL history-leading eight touchdown receptions in four Super Bowl appearances. Rice, a three-time Super Bowl champion and Super Bowl XXIII MVP, was selected to 13 Pro Bowls in 20 career seasons, earned 10 first-team All-Pro selections, was named Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year twice (1987 and 1993) and is a member of the NFL's All-Decade Teams of the 1980s and 1990s, and the NFL's 75th and 100th Anniversary Teams.
Young, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2005, led the league in passer rating six times and was a seven-time Pro Bowl selection, earned three first-team All-Pro honors and was twice named Associated Press Most Valuable Player (1992 and 1994). A three-time Super Bowl champion, Young earned Super Bowl XXIX MVP honors with a Super Bowl-record six touchdown passes. Also known for his dynamic running ability, Young finished his career with 4,239 rushing yards and 43 rushing touchdowns, both the second-most by a quarterback all-time at the time of his retirement. Additionally, Young helps coach varsity girls high school flag football at Menlo School in Northern California, where both of his daughters played. In October, the San Francisco 49ers Foundation announced Young as the organization's Honorary Captain of Girls Flag Football, alongside the launch of a new initiative, "Football Is Made for Girls."
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