The fan voting portion of the Pro Bowl concluded yesterday and if the fan voting is any indication of how the coaches and players will vote (the remaining 2/3 of the process), the Arizona Cardinals should be well represented. Last year the Cardinals had five representatives, the largest number since 1977, and there is still a chance that they could approach, or exceed, that number this season. Players and coaches will vote today and the team will be announced on the NFL Network next Tuesday (the 29th). Here are the final results from the fan voting:
Larry Fitzgerald: Only four players in the entire league (Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Brett Favre and Adrian Wilson) received more votes that Fitz and he is certainly headed to his fourth Pro Bowl (2005, 2007 & 2008).
Adrian Wilson: Wilson led all NFC strong safeties with over 305,000 votes and A-dub should be selected to his third Pro Bowl (2006 & 2008).
Ben Graham: Perhaps the surprise performance of this season will be capped off with Ben Graham's first ever Pro Bowl appearance. Graham surged through the final weeks of fan voting and finished the process leading all NFC punters with just over 103,000 votes.
Antrel Rolle: Rolle finished third among NFC free safeties behind Darren Sharper and Madeau Williams. Rolle shouldn't overtake Sharper in the remaining coaches and players votes but it'll be interesting to see how he fares against Williams. Rolle has more tackles (68 vs 63), sacks (1.5 vs 0), forced fumbles (1 vs 0), passed defended (8 vs 4) and interceptions (4 vs 0).
Kurt Warner: Warner finished fourth among NFC QB's behind Brees, Favre and Aaron Rodgers. The gap between Brees, Favre and Warner is likely to much to overcome and Rodgers' numbers are better than Warner's at the moment so it's unlikely that he'll be able to move up.
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie: DRC finished fourth among NFC corners behind Charles Woodson, Asante Samuel, Antoine Winfield. Woodson and Samuel seem like a good bet to remain ahead of DRC but Winfield hasn't really had a great year statistically and currently looks like the beneficiary of a great voter turnout among Vikings fans. Winfield has missed six games (of 14) and as a result DRC has better numbers across the board despite playing with a mild case of turf toe.
Darnell Dockett: Dockett stayed at fourth overall among NFC defensive tackles for basically the entire process despite having the better numbers than any of the four players ahead of him, Pat Williams, Kevin Williams and Albert Haynesworth. The coaches and players vote will be an interesting process to see whether name recognition or actual peformance on the field is more important.
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That's it for Cardinals' players who finished in the top five at thier position. Anquan Boldin and Karlos Dansby could still gain some ground but they've got quite a ways to go and slipping through as an alternate might be the best case scenario for them. How many Cardinals will make the final Pro Bowl roster?