2018 NFL Pro Bowl vote: 3 Patriots lead the AFC at their respective positions

Public voting for the 2018 NFL Pro Bowl, the exhibition game to fill the void between conference championships and Super Bowl, started 10 days ago and three members of the New England Patriots are well on their way to earn the honors yet again. According to the league, quarterback Tom Brady, tight end Rob Gronkowski and kicker Stephen Gostkowski are the top vote-getters in the AFC at their respective positions.

Brady, who was standing at almost 240,000 votes when the NFL announced its first polls yesterday, is currently the second most-voted player in the league behind only the Philadelphia Eagles' Carson Wentz. Gronkowski, meanwhile, leads all tight ends with almost 170,000 votes – not a surprise given that he is a) one of the NFL's biggest stars and b) the best tight end in the game today.

For Brady, 2018 will be his 13th nomination to the AFC-NFC all-star game – second-most in NFL history behind Tony Gonzales, Peyton Manning, Bruce Matthews and Merlin Olsen, who each received the honor 14 times. Gronkowski and Gostkowski, on the other hand, are each on the road to be voted to their fifth Pro Bowl. Ideally, though, none of them will actually play in the game: The players on the two teams competing in the Super Bowl will not partake in the Pro Bowl.

Voting continues until December 14 and votes can either be cast online or via direct messaging through the NFL's official Twitter account. During the final week of voting, Tweeting out a player's first and last name or his Twitter handle combined with the hasthag #ProBowlVote also counts.