Expanded breakdown of Pro Bowl Games voting with the top 10 by position: pic.twitter.com/wN2aFH1Y8u
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) December 6, 2023
There are certainly a few Tampa Bay Buccaneers players who deserve a Pro Bowl nod, but the team isn’t well-represented in early polling.
NFL reporter Tom Pelissero released the initial results for Pro Bowl fan voting on Wednesday, and Tampa Bay’s representatives can only be found sparingly. Of every position group, only three Bucs are in the top 10 — and all of them are in the lower bracket of their respective positions.
Left tackle Tristan Wirfs is the highest-ranked Bucs player in any group, sitting at eighth place among all offensive tackles. Defensive lineman Vita Vea is currently sitting at 10th place among DLs and Bucs wideout and kick returner Deven Thompkins is 10th among return specialists. Bucs WR Mike Evans, who is having one of the best campaigns of his career right now, isn’t in the top 10 at his position, and neither is Bucs safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who is having an All-Pro-caliber campaign in 2023.
It should be noted that Pro Bowl Games fan voting is only a part of the selection process for the Pro Bowl Games. Fan vote counts for a third of the votes, while NFL players also get a third and NFL coaches do, too. That means that it’s still very possible that some Tampa Bay players could make it, but it appears unlikely at the moment that fan voting will be a big part of their nomination.
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