Little-known Commanders safety Terrell Burgess is a top Pro Bowl vote getter

Terrell Burgess has played on the winning side in the Super Bowl, and was a third-round draft pick in 2020.

Still, it caught some people off guard when he was announced as the leader in Pro Bowl voting among NFC special teams players. One of those people was Burgess himself, who got a text from a teammate when the news first came out.

“I was like, ‘Oh shoot, that’s pretty crazy,’” Burgess said on Thursday. “I thought it was pretty cool. Hopefully it stays that way.”

Burgess, a safety, played special teams for the Rams when they won the Super Bowl two years ago, and after a season with the Giants landed in Washington for this season, where he’s been a consistent presence on special teams, logging seven tackles this season.

None of that quite explains how he ended up atop the Pro Bowl ballot, though.

“I mean, I don’t have like an army of bots, if that’s what you’re asking,” Burgess said.

What he does have is a network of people pulling for him. That starts with Commanders fans (each team nominates just one special teams player), as well as college fans from his days in Utah, and a family that has worked to spread the word about the vote.

“I’m just blessed to be in the position I’m in,” Burgess said. 

He added that he’s got a chance to make a closing argument this weekend against the Jets.

“I’m just going to try to keep making tackles, maybe get a forced fumble this week to put a stamp on it or something,” he said.