Patrick Mahomes on NFLPA’s Rising Stars list for merch sales
By Matt Conner
Every year, the NFL releases the list of top 50 merch sales associated with specific players as well as an up-and-coming list called the Rising Stars list.
The NFLPA is projecting Patrick Mahomes to be one of the most popular emerging players in the league this year. Or at least they think a lot of you will be buying his jersey sometime soon.
Every quarter, the National Football League Players Association puts out a list of the Top 50 best selling players list, a compilation of all merchandise, apparel and the like associated with a specific player. The totals are tallied which then make it easy to see which players are the most popular terms of getting fans to buy related products—everything from jerseys to Fathead decals on a wall.
Earlier this offseason, we noted that Travis Kelce had broke through the Top 50 overall this last offseason, showing league-wide popularity was becoming a reality for the Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro tight end.
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Beyond the Top 50, the NFLPA also annually puts out a Rising Stars list, a future projections list that details which players they expect to become household names. This year’s list just emerged shortly after the 2018 NFL Draft, which, of course, means faces like Saquon Barkley, Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold will top the list. However, this year, they’ve divided rookies and veterans and kept it at 10 instead of 50.
Mahomes is currently at No. 3 overall on the veterans list, just behind running backs Alvin Kamara of the New Orleans Saints and Leonard Fournette of the Jacksonville Jaguars. What’s interesting is that Kareem Hunt is not on the list despite also being a rookie running back last year who also topped both players in rushing yards (and the entire NFL).
Hopefully Mahomes will be cemented on the actual Top 50 list one year from now, a sign that he’s led his team to some big wins in primetime—as he’s going to be getting a lot of chances this year in his first season as the Chiefs starting quarterback.