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The San Francisco 49ers announced Monday evening that safety Antoine Bethea will replace Seattle Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor at this week's Pro Bowl. This follows news from Matt Barrows that left Mike Iupati will not attend the Pro Bowl. Iupati dealt with a hyper-extended elbow this season, and likely does not want to aggravate anything with free agency approaching. Barring any other changes, Bethea and left tackle Joe Staley will attend the Pro Bowl down in Arizona.
This marks Bethea's third Pro Bowl appearance. He attended the Pro Bowl in 2007 and 2009. Although Bethea was fairly quiet in the latter half of the season, he was arguably the best player on the 49ers defense from start to finish. He replaced Donte Whitner in the 49ers secondary, and ended up having a better season than Whitner. Speaking of Whitner, the Browns safety sent Bethea a tweet of congratulations:
"@DonteWhitner: @ABethea41 congrats bro... I'll see u there.." Same to you bruh....you called it!
— Antoine Bethea (@ABethea41) January 20, 2015