The process of selecting the Pro Bowl team is nearly as interesting as the Pro Bowl itself.
Of course, that’s not really saying much.
It’s a three-part formula, with fan votes accounting for 33 percent, player votes taking up another third, and votes from coaches providing the final third.
The latter two categories come later; for now, the fans are voting at NFL.com. And the fans’ favorite to date is Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, with nearly 377,000 votes. In second place is Peyton’s long-time nemesis, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, with more than 345,000.
The rest of the top 10 consists of Texans running back Arian Foster (333,000), Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (320,000), Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (298,000), Bengals receiver A.J. Green (258,000), Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski (258,000), Giants receiver Victor Cruz (257,000), Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan (236,000), and Saints quarterback Drew Brees (227,000).
Voting continues for five more weeks. The game will be played in Honolulu on the Sunday before Super Bowl XLVII.
And given that Peyton and Peterson are in the top 10 after returning from significant injuries, there’s no place like this one to paste the code from today’s PFT Live regarding the question of whether Manning or Peterson should be the 2012 comeback player of the year.