Lions rookie safety Kerby Joseph finishes first in Pro Bowl fan voting at his position

Fan voting for the 2023 Pro Bowl finished last week, and Lions rookie safety Kerby Joseph earned the No. 1 spot among safeties in the NFC.

Fan voting for anything can be a slippery slope of a popularity contest over actual worthy performance. But fans play a role in who gets elected to the Pro Bowl each year, and on Monday afternoon it was announced Lions rookie safety Kerby Joseph finished No. 1 in fan voting among NFC free safeties.

Joseph made a late run from sixth to first among his NFC position peers, so Lions’ fans apparently rushed to vote for him.

Tracy Walker’s season-ending Achilles tear in Week 3 against the Vikings thrust Joseph, the Lions’ third-round pick back in April, into a big role sooner than expected. He has made 11 starts (the last 11 games), with 65 total tackles, three interceptions, two forced fumbles, five pass breakups and a fumble recovery. In Week 9, after intercepting two Aaron Rodgers passes and finishing with 10 total tackles, he was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week.

Lions: Kerby Joseph is not guaranteed to be a Pro Bowler yet

Fan voting counts for one-third of Pro Bowl selection process, with the confidential voting of players and coaches each counting for a third too. Naturally, the NFL and NFL Network had made the announcement of the Pro Bowl rosters into a primetime television show–8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Dec. 21 for those who care to watch it.

They won’t attempt to play an actual football game with pads on, finally, at the Pro Bowl this year. Instead there will be a skills competition and flag football game played in Las Vegas, with the teams in the flag football game coached by Peyton and Eli Manning.

Joseph was the only Lion to finish atop the fan voting at his position. The Detroit News‘ Justin Rogers put together where other notable Lions finished in the fan vote league-wide and in the NFC.