Brock Purdy gets most NFL Pro Bowl votes; Cardinals' Budda Baker also elected
Phoenix area native and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy ended up with the most votes for the Pro Bowl Games, which will take place in Orlando early next month before the Super Bowl.
The Cardinals' representative will be safety Budda Baker, the only Arizona player selected. This is his sixth Pro Bowl nod, making him one of just nine players in franchise history to be chosen at least six times.
Purdy, a former Gilbert Perry and Iowa State standout who was the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft but has quickly become one of the NFL's top signal callers, finished with 451,864 votes. Fan voting ended on Christmas Day and player/coach voting ended on Dec. 29.
Purdy, who turned 24 years old last week, is an NFL MVP candidate with 4,280 passing yards, 31 touchdown passes and a 69.4 completion percentage this season. He has a career regular season record of 17-4 as a starter after bursting onto the scene late last season in leading San Francisco to the NFC championship game.
His passing yards and touchdowns both rank second in the NFL. Purdy was selected to the NFL All-Rookie team last season and has once been named NFC Offensive Player of the Week in 2023.
A former Arizona high school player of the year, Purdy had 6A record passing numbers in his senior season at Perry. A few years later, he returned to the area to lead Iowa State to a Fiesta Bowl win over Oregon.
Purdy took the top spot, joined by two 49ers teammates in the top five among vote-getters. Running back Christian McCaffrey was second around 22,000 votes behind Purdy, and tight end George Kittle was fourth.
Nevertheless, Baker was named to his sixth Pro Bowl and fifth consecutive selection at safety after being chosen as a special teamer during his rookie season in 2017. It’s also his fifth consecutive year being named a starter at safety.
Baker becomes just the third player in franchise history named to the Pro Bowl at safety at least five times, joining Hall of Famer Larry Wilson (eight times) and Adrian Wilson (five).
Baker is the only safety in the NFL named to the Pro Bowl each of the last five seasons. He is also one of eight finalists for the 2023 Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award. He ranks second on the team with 77 tackles, his sixth consecutive season with at least 75. Dating back to 2017, Baker leads all NFL defensive backs with 709 total tackles and 504 solo tackles.
The 49ers led all NFL teams in total votes received as fans landed 49ers players atop 15 different positions in the final NFC voting. The Cardinals had no player in the top 10 except second-year tight end Trey McBride, who was 10th in the NFL and sixth in the NFC voting.
The AFC and NFC player rosters for The Pro Bowl Games were announced Wednesday night live on NFL Network's Pro Bowl special. Twenty-eight teams had at least one player selected and 21 had multiple players chosen. The 49ers led all teams with nine Pro Bowl selections, and the Ravens and Cowboys were next with seven apiece.
(The Republic's Bob McManaman contributed to this report).
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Brock Purdy leads large group of San Francisco 49ers in Pro Bowl votes
