What didn’t Saquon Barkley do this past year?
NFL Offensive Player of the Year, 2,000 rushing yards, Super Bowl champion, Madden cover athlete. Now, he caps it as the official leader of the NFL Players Association’s Year-End Top 50 Player Sales List.
“What he was able to do on the field, living up to all the hype, delivering incredible plays that will live on in some of the greatest plays in NFL history,” said Ben Ruiz, vice president of consumer products and strategy for the NFLPA. “So it kind of made sense that he was going to be the one to top this list.”
And in doing so, he became the first running back to top the rankings since Ezekiel Elliott in 2017.
Each year, the NFLPA tracks top retail performers based on sales of officially licensed player products.
“It is the most comprehensive and up-to-date snapshot of player-driven consumer demand, offering a strong indicator of the NFL’s most marketable and influential athletes — impacting everything from endorsements to overall earning potential,” per the NFLPA.
While jersey sales remain atop the mountain of items involved in the algorithm — in fact, the top five jersey sales leaders were the top five overall retail leaders — it does go far beyond that, including memorabilia such as bobbleheads, posters, backpacks, drinkware and much more.
There are 85 different licensing retail partners whose data make up this equation.
Here is the full top 50.
Among the Top 50, quarterbacks unsurprisingly lead the way with 21 of the 50 selections (42 percent).
A full positional breakdown:
- QB: 21
- RB: 6
- WR: 12
- TE: 3
- OL: 0
- DL: 3
- LB: 2
- DB: 3
- K: 0
- P: 0
While seven rookies eclipsed the final Top 50, no one had a bigger rise during the season than Commanders QB Jayden Daniels, who exploded from 34th on the NFLPA Preseason List in August (covering March 1 to Aug. 31, 2024) to No. 4 overall this February.
The 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year ranked fourth among all jersey sales leaders, and his impressive connection with Terry McLaurin surely helped boost the receiver into the Top 50.
Ruiz certainly expects this positive momentum to continue for Washington.
“Watch out for the Commanders showing up in a higher way in this list than they have in the past,” Ruiz said.
Daniels’ No. 4 overall finish is the first time a rookie finished in the top five since Mac Jones (No. 5) in the 2022 End-of-Year Top 50. And it’s the highest position of any rookie since Tua Tagovailoa the season prior.
Another rookie who had perhaps a surprising showing in the Top 50 was J.J. McCarthy. And while the Vikings QB fell from 39th to 48th, his name being anywhere in the top 50 is noteworthy considering he didn’t play a single snap this season, having suffered a torn meniscus in August 2024.
“I think fans see the potential, and they see that stardom,” Ruiz said. “It's incredible to see the fan base still rally around him, from a product standpoint, and show that support."
In looking at team representation, the Eagles and Lions stand alone with five selections each.
The Eagles are, of course, the reigning Super Bowl champs, while the Lions were the No. 1 seed in the NFC, finishing with a 15-2 record. No Detroit team had ever won more than 12 games until last season.
And Detroit was clearly riding high following an NFC Championship Game appearance the year before. All five Lions represented on the final list were also in the preseason rankings. No other team had five players in August. The Eagles previously had four, with Cooper DeJean climbing the ladder by February.
Next up behind Philly and Detroit were the Chiefs, with four players making the list, led by Patrick Mahomes at No. 2 his seventh top-five finish.
Outside of jersey sales, where Barkley ranked No. 1, Patrick Mahomes led in several different categories, including Funko Pops, bobbleheads, Fathead wall decals, youth apparel, Party Animals’ best-selling player figurines and squishy toys, posters, framed memorabilia and much more.
“I think the run Patrick Mahomes has been on is incredible,” Ruiz said. “He is a true generational talent. He's one of the best to ever do it, and that reflects in merchandise sales. We see him year over year over year.
But no one fell further from the Preseason to End-of-Year list than his teammate, Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, whose controversial commencement speech at Benedictine College in May 2024 made him a household name.
Butker’s comments included calling Pride Month a “deadly sin” and suggested women’s accomplishments are most important at home, rather than in their professions. While many found his speech offensive, others championed his conservative message.
Immediately following his speech, Butker shot up the jersey-seller list, even claiming the top spot for a brief period among both men and women, despite the NFL publicly distancing itself from the Chiefs kicker. But the jersey run clearly didn’t last, as Butker fell from the No. 24 spot on the preseason list to off the board entirely.
Seven players who made the Preseason Top 50 fell off the list by the end-of-year rankings.
Here’s who didn’t make the end-of-year cut:
- Harrison Butker (24)
- Garrett Wilson (33)
- Anthony Richardson (42)
- Will Anderson Jr. (43)
- Deebo Samuel (47)
- Myles Garrett (49)
- Rome Odunze (50)
Taking their places were:
- Baker Mayfield (35)
- Malik Nabers (36)
- Mike Evans (39)
- Nick Bosa (40)
- Cooper DeJean (42)
- Terry McLaurin (45)
- Bijan Robinson (49)
Five of the six first-round rookie QBs made both Preseason and End-of-Year Top 50, with the lone missing being Michael Penix Jr.
Impressively, 16 of the Top 50 have now made the list each of the past five seasons.
One of those is 49ers tight end George Kittle, who clocked in at 27th overall, but had a very strong showing in the Funko Pop category, finishing third behind Mahomes and Joe Burrow.
“With someone like George,” Ruiz said, “he's created not just the on-field success, but just an incredible personality that resonates with people, that people are really attracted to, which creates that kind of staying power.”
So what should we expect from next year’s class?
Certainly some changes among teams not represented in this year’s Top 50.
The Browns, Cardinals, Colts, Panthers, Saints and Titans all missed the list.
But some of those are bound to change.
Cardinals receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. was the No. 4 overall selection in the 2024 Draft, but didn't sign the NFLPA Group Licensing Agreement, meaning none of his merchandise was available for sale in official team stores. Now that he has signed the deal, his numbers will obviously skyrocket.
Browns rookie QB Shedeur Sanders has been the clubhouse leader from a jersey sales standpoint from the NFL Draft to now, despite being the 144th overall selection. And there are certainly promising stars beyond him.
“The rookie class going into the Raiders (Ashton Jeanty, Jack Bech) is really exciting,” Ruiz said. "(Additionally) anytime you have someone like Cam Ward or Travis Hunter going at the top of the draft, that's going to move some units, for sure.”
Injecting one of the nation’s most exciting running backs as well as a potential two-way superstar in Jacksonville will almost certainly see them fly up the board.
And we can certainly expect to see Ward on the list. The last five No. 1 overall quarterbacks have come in at an average of 26 on the final rankings.
Matt Liberman is a reporter and video producer for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.