Taylor Swift Fans Again Rig Pro Bowl Fan Votes For Travis Kelce Making Process As Much A Joke As Event
The Pro Bowl was something of a joke for years — with players understandably declining to tackle or play at full speed to avoid injuries — before the NFL rebranded the event as the Pro Bowl Games, which is equally uninteresting. But now comes yet another reason why the event needs to die altogether:
The voting process.
The voting, particularly from fans, is utterly ridiculous and obviously more rigged than the 2020 presidential election.
How do we know?
Jan 26, 2025; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) against the Buffalo Bills during the AFC Championship game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Kelce Tops Pro Bowl Vote
The NFL announced on Monday that Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, for the second-consecutive season, led all players in fan balloting for the Pro Bowl Games.
Fan voting concluded a week ago and Kelce garnered 420,383 votes.
That's more than Josh Allen.
More than Matthew Stafford.
More than any running back or receiver or anyone else playing in the league. Kelce actually got 157,256 more fan votes than Allen, the next-leading vote-getter. (Shame on you, #BillsMafia).
And nothing against Kelce, but the choice of the people probably will not be the choice of players and coaches, who also get to vote in the process.
ORLANDO, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 04: Baker Mayfield #6 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and NFC runs the ball against Kyle Hamilton #14 of the Baltimore Ravens and AFC during the second half of the 2024 NFL Pro Bowl Games at Camping World Stadium on February 04, 2024 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Kelce Not NFL's Best Tight End
Selections for the AFC and NFC rosters for the Pro Bowl Games are determined by the consensus votes of fans, players and coaches, with each group’s vote counting as one-third toward determining the all-star players who will be selected to this year’s Pro Bowl Games.
The NFL is the only sports league that combines voting by fans, coaches and players to determine its all-star teams. And the league is proud of this.
But the league needs to stop this. Because fans obviously stuff the ballot box with no regard for who actually deserves the votes.
Kelce has caught 68 passes for 803 yards and 5 TDs this season. That's solid. Good even.
But that's fewer catches than, say, Harold Fannin, Juwan Johnson, Dalton Schultz, Kyle Pitts, Jake Ferguson, and Trey McBride who actually deserves to get the most votes because he has 109 catches for 1,098 yards and 10 TDs.
Fans today are remembering the day one year ago when Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce surprised her Eras Tour crowd in London when he joined her on stage.
Swifties Obviously Stuffed Ballot Box
Kelce's perch at the top of all the voting, no doubt a product of Taylor Swift fans stuffing the ballot box, is not the only weird circumstance in fan voting.
Allen leads the fan voting in the AFC and Caleb Williams leads in the NFC.
And neither has had as good a season as Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, who leads the NFL in touchdown passes (40), passing yards (4,179), and quarterback rating (112.1).
Stafford was the fourth-leading vote-getter at quarterback as fans thought even Patrick Mahomes was more deserving of their votes.
More craziness (stupidity)?
ORLANDO, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 02: Myles Garrett #95 of the Cleveland Browns and AFC looks on prior to the 2025 NFL Pro Bowl Games at Camping World Stadium on February 02, 2025 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images)
Garrett Not Reward For Record Pace
Buffalo's James Cook leads the NFL in rushing but wasn't even among the top five running backs in the fan vote.
Myles Garrett has 22 sacks and can break the single-season sack record the final two weeks of the season, but he's second in the fan voting for defensive ends behind Micah Parsons.
And the great state of Illinois and city of Chicago, infamous for election engineering, carried that reputation into this process.
Chicago players got the most fan votes at center, free safety, strong safety, cornerback, guard, punter, inside linebacker, defensive tackle, running back and return specialist.
The AFC and NFC player rosters for the 2026 Pro Bowl Games will be announced Tuesday morning. Pray the ballots from coaches and players save the NFL from embarrassment.