The NFL Pro Bowl has not been a major factor for the Kansas City Chiefs over the past few years. In fact, as many are well aware, five of the last six Pro Bowls have not featured the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, or Chris Jones—despite them being voted in—because they had a more important football game happening the week after.

Even then, it’s always an honor to be selected for the Pro Bowl no matter how much the actual game or weekend activities have diminished and changed over the years. So when the Pro Bowl early voting leaders were announced on Monday afternoon, there were four Chiefs in the lead for that honor—second behind only Baltimore (5).

That should not come as a surprise considering the past few years worth of success and attention as well as the fact that last year the Chiefs had five officially selected, including Travis Kelce’s ninth-straight season to be honored with a Pro Bowl ticket.

The only surprises this season lie in who currently leads the AFC early voting from Kansas City:

That’s right, no Kelce, no Mahomes, no Jones. But, to everyone’s surprise, the undrafted rookie fullback out of Ball State and UCLA leads the AFC early voting at the fullback position.

This comes after a solid start to his rookie season which saw Steele mainly playing as a traditional running back, but we’ll get to that in a second. “The Alligator Man” was propelled into a big role early on to begin his NFL career, going from just four snaps in the backfield in Week 1 to 41 in Week 3 after Isiah Pacheco’s injury.

Playing such an important role early on for the Chiefs brought a considerable spotlight on Steele that proved to be just a bit too bright, seeing him fumble three times in four weeks. But, even then, people knew his name across the country after a 74-yard performance against Atlanta on Sunday Night Football, followed by a post-game interview that discussed his pet alligator—both of which likely helped in the voting results.

It’s still surprising to see Steele’s name on the list, though—not because he hasn’t been pushing himself every game to get better (he hasn’t fumbled since Week 5) but because he’s barely played at the fullback position. In fact, Steele’s season has seen him play only 13% of his 163 snaps as a true fullback. The rest have been at RB, on special teams, and even a few in the slot position.

But, the Kansas City official depth chart does and has always listed Steele as a fullback which is not unlike Andy Reid, who has always tried to keep the fullback position alive despite believing it to be somewhat obsolete.

One could still easily argue for Steele’s stats atop the fullback position in the AFC. Currently only five other teams in the AFC have a fullback on their roster, two of which only use them on special teams.

First off, Steele did impress all of Chiefs Kingdom and the rest of the NFL before the season ever started with some of the team’s best plays coming off his legs (see below) which helped secure a spot on the 53-man roster when week one rolled around.

Now, 13 weeks into the season, Steele’s 158 rush yards are the most in the NFL with 116 of them coming after contact. Steele also covered that much yardage on just 48 rush attempts (3.3 ypa) which is by far the most looks in the NFL .

Steele’s receiving stats are where he pales in comparison a little, just catching five of his nine targets (55.5%) for a total of 24 yards (4.8 ypc). Compare that to the NFC’s leader of the early voting list, Kyle Juszcyzk, who has 14 catches for 119 yards.

Sadly, Steele still has not found the end zone at all this season, but he has been responsible for 14 first downs so far this season which is 6 more than any other fullback in the entire league. Also, two of them came on fourth down when the team needed him most.

Let’s compare Steele’s stats to some of his AFC counterparts through the first 13 weeks of the season:

Miami’s Alec Ingold, who already has one Pro Bowl nomination under his belt:
– 9 rushes for 13 yards (1.4 ypa)
– 1 TD, 2 FUM
– 9/9 receiving for 75 yards (8.3 ypc)
– 8 first downs
– 63.1 blocking grade (per PFF)

Baltimore’s Patrick Ricard, a 4x Pro-Bowler:
– 0 rush attempts
– 2/3 receiving for 8 yards
– 1 TD
– 60.4 Run Block grade (per PFF)

Denver’s Michael Burton, a 1x Super Bowl champion at fullback with Kansas City:
– 5 rush attempts, 4 rush yards (0.8 ypa)
– 7/7 receiving for 46 yards
– 70.7 Blocking grade (per PFF)

Just looking at the usage of the rest of the AFC’s fullbacks it’s quite easy to see a reality where Steele could suit up in a Pro Bowl jersey after his rookie season. But, in that reality, the Chiefs would not be appearing in their third-straight Super Bowl and that is not a reality I would like to live in.