Pro Bowl Selections 2012: 4 Players Who Most Deserved the Votes

The 2012 NFL Pro Bowl rosters were announced yesterday, and amid the snubs and surprises, there were a number of players who fully deserved the honor.

Thanks to their impressive play in the 2011 regular season, the following four players were rightly chosen to their respective conference's Pro Bowl squads.

RB Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville Jaguars

Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew has the most rushing yards of any running back this season and the third most all-purpose yards of any offensive player.

Though he's on a 4-11 team, that team might not have any wins if it weren't for his efforts, and thus he deserves the honor of being selected to the 2012 Pro Bowl.

On the season, Jones-Drew has rushed 318 times for 1,437 yards and eight touchdowns, and has caught 42 passes for 370 yards and three scores. He's durable, highly talented and seems to have a true passion for playing the game.

It's good to see players from the most marginal teams in the NFL get Pro Bowl recognition, and Jones-Drew is tops on that list.

QB Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers

There may be just one quarterback who is having anywhere close to the year that the Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers is having, and thus it makes sense that he'd be the top Pro Bowl vote-getter at the position in the NFC.

Rodgers has completed 68.3 percent of his passes this season for 4,643 yards, 45 touchdowns and six interceptions, and has rushed for three more scores.

He's the leader of the Packers' high-scoring offense and is the single biggest reason the team is 14-1 and headed into the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

In the quarterback-heavy NFL, Rodgers is clearly the best of the best. It's only natural that he'd be the starting quarterback for the NFC in this year's Pro Bowl.

WR A.J. Green, Cincinnati Bengals

For a rookie to be selected to the Pro Bowl as a starter is a rare and significant honor, and it's one Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green has earned.

His considerable skills helped ease the pressure on fellow rookie, quarterback Andy Dalton, and contributed to the team's efforts to be on the brink of a postseason appearance.

This season, Green has caught 63 passes for 1,031 yards and seven scores. He's performing at an elite level already and should only improve as his career continues.

It was right for Pro Bowl voters to recognize what a contribution Green has made to the Bengals this season and select him to the AFC team.

TE Rob Gronkowski, New England Patriots

Season after season, the role of the tight ends continues to expand, and this year some of the best talent at the position emerged as the top playmakers on their respective teams.

None has done so quite as well as the New England Patriots' Rob Gronkowski, who in two years in the league, has redefined what an elite tight end can be.

This season, Gronkowski has caught 82 passes for 1,219 yards and 15 touchdowns, and has run in a single two-yard score. He is quarterback Tom Brady's most reliable red zone target, can block effectively, has great hands and surprising speed.

A player as talented and versatile as Gronkowski can make any quarterback and any team better. The fact that he's a member of the powerhouse Patriots has served to elevate that team to the top in the AFC.

For that reason, he more than deserves his starting spot on the AFC's Pro Bowl roster.