Sometimes it’s good to reflect. One weird thing I was thinking about lately is the oddity of popularity versus reality. For example, Tim Tebow is a great guy and was super controversial in the NFL and hey, he even won in college, but he just wasn’t a very good pro passer. Yet he crushed in jersey sales. Even when he wasn’t in Denver, he still crushed in custom football jerseys sales and he wasn’t even a starter.
Tebow isn’t alone, though. It happens with rookies and it happens with other polarizing figures like Johnny Manziel. These guys come with lofty expectations, quickly rose to a certain level and/or are just exciting players that make you want to buy their jersey. But how much does that popularity roll over into the real NFL world? How much success do the guys that are able to profit off their brand actually have?
Longevity is one concern, to be sure, and one look at someone like Robert Griffin III will tell you that. He was a monster sensation as a rookie, hurt his knee, and has never been the same. Now he’s not even playing and Kirk Cousins is a thing.
But he’s also a great example. RG3 was immensely popular, and now he’s not. He was super successful for a short amount of time, and now he’s not. So, how much does the popularity and success correlate?
Not that much.
It probably shouldn’t shock anyone that way back in May when the NFLPA released their data for player sales, that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady topped the league. He had the highest selling jersey through the first couple of weeks at NFLshop.com, too. To what you end up attributing that is up to you, but it could be for several reasons: he’s good, the Patriots are good, he’s been around forever, he was in the news with his constant legal battle with the league, the list goes on.
I think the biggest thing is relevancy and when you add the statistics, the winning and all of that stuff, it cements it even more. Brady at the top, no one can argue that.
But the list gets interesting from there. Right away at #2 was…Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick was even on a downward slide, as the 49ers missed the playoffs last year and his play regressed sharply just one year after making the Super Bowl (and almost winning!).
Now Kaepernick isn’t even playing, as he got benched for Blaine Gabbert.
There is a specific case where player popularity drowns out success and real life impact. Because right behind him was Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers. Those guys make sense. They’re young, marketbale, productive and have won a Super Bowl.
Behind them in 5th place was a living legend in Peyton Manning. Also in decline, there is plenty of good reason why Manning wasn’t #1 over Brady or over any of these guys. Good reason for why he was over Kap? Not really, but this is kind of the point.
Right behind Manning in 6th is one of two defensive players in the group – J.J. Watt. Watt’s Texans have been in decline and he’s a one-man wrecking crew. Naturally that’s impressive as he comes of as a living, breathing Hulk and has to “do it all” himself.
Rounding out the list is Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman, 2014 phenom Odell Beckham Jr., Titans rookie passer Marcus Mariota and Buccaneers rookie passer Jameis Winston.
What does this say? This tells us that, with half of this list being players that are unknown commodities or unproven winners in the NFL, popularity and prison of the moment thinking rules over actual success.
We already knew that in a sense, though. But it’s right there for us to see that player sales are more built on hopes and ideals than actual production or any real merit. That’s not a bad thing, either. And it’s nice to see legends like Brady and Manning stand the test of time, or true winners like Wilson and Rodgers crack the top 5. It is certainly interesting to note unproven players taking over the popularity of the league and leaving still popular and productive guys like Rob Gronkowski (14th), Clay Matthews (19th), Marshawn Lynch (24th) and Demaryius Thomas (50th).
The best part, though? Is Tim Tebow was 31st in player sales when that info was first released and no one even knew for sure if he’d play in the NFL in 2015.
Got your own interesting finding when it comes to player sales and popularity? Let us hear about it in the comments below!
