Patrick Mahomes might be the biggest name in American Football but he isn’t the best-selling jersey so which mystery player has managed to leapfrog the Kansas City Chiefs‘ star quarterback?
Is it Travis Kelce? After all, his relationship with Taylor Swift launched him to new heights of celebrity status and fame, are the Swifties helping him cash in? No, it isn’t him either according to the NFL Players Association.
The men with the most shirt sales turned out to be both Philadelphia Eagles stars as their quarterback, Jalen Hurts, and their now-retired center, Jason Kelce, came out on top in a study sampled from March 2023-February 2024.
Mahomes finished third in the standing, narrowly beating out his tight end to the punch as Travis Kelce came in at fourth. The San Francisco 49ers‘ exceptional running back, Christian McCaffrey, closed out the top five.
Why did the Eagles dominate the top two?
Hurts and Kelce came out on top thanks to their incredible 2022/23 NFL run that saw them make Super Bowl LVII, although they were stopped in the final game of the season by the Chiefs.
Nonetheless, that left hype for them heading into 2023/24 at an all-time high as the city of Philadelphia got firmly behind them.
Unfortunately, they fell off towards the end of the regular season and could not pick up form in the postseason either despite looking very strong for much of the year. After running up an 11-1 record by Week 12, they then finished with a 1-5 run and slipped to second in the NFC East.
In the playoffs, they qualified for the NFC Wild Card round but were dumped out by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, losing 32-9 at the Raymond James Stadium in Florida on January 15.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs‘ Mahomes and Kelce will look to claim back the top spot for 2023-2024 shirt sales after winning a second consecutive Super Bowl as they bid for an unprecedented three-peat.