TAMPA --
Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Ronde Barber is a third of the way to earning his sixth Pro Bowl berth.
Barber, who moved from cornerback to safety in this, his 16th NFL season, has won the fan voting portion of the NFC Pro Bowl balloting at his new position, the Bucs announced. He finished with 121,031 votes.
Barber has been leading the balloting at free safety for weeks, but to make it all the way back to Hawaii he will also have to win the vote of NFL players and coaches.
Those ballots will be cast today, with the announcement of the winners coming Wednesday during an NFL Network special.
Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos leads all vote-getters (993,045), followed by Tom Brady of the New England Patriots (908,099), Houston Texans running back Arian Foster (829,591) and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (828,225).
The Pro Bowl will be played Jan. 27 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.