NFL

Russell Wilson Surprisingly Has NFL’s Top-Selling Jersey

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By @Tweets_ByJ

Russell Wilson

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The NFL has been judging its players’ popularity from jersey sales for years, and this season’s jersey sales numbers just came out. These numbers are typically not a surprise and everyone can anticipate the best-selling jersey, but this season is a bit of an anomaly as Russell Wilson has had the most jersey sales.

This is surprising on a variety of fronts. Wilson is not the typical player to have the highest number of jersey sales. It’s usually a player who is popular because he has a bold, outgoing personality. This is the opposite of Wilson, who likes to do all of his talking on the field, and is the reason why one would expect someone like Richard Sherman to have the most jersey sales. He is wildly popular and has that type of personality, but fans would apparently rather have Wilson’s jersey even though he’s a silent star.

Another reason why I’m surprised is because Wilson isn’t a rookie sensation. Usually, fanbases of terrible teams like to snatch up the jersey of their star QB of the future who was just taken in the first round. For example, look at Johnny Manziel, who is also wildly popular for his personality and is considered a future star. But again, the fans went after a player who is already on a star-studded team.

Moreover, Wilson isn’t even the best silent star in the NFL. Sure, he is a great QB in the NFL and is bordering on “elite” status, but he’s far from the best QB in the league who goes about his business. That would be Peyton Manning, a player who every football fan loves or at least respects as a player. So if one were to guess who would have the higher number jersey sales, I would probably say Manning because he is more of a role model and established star than Wilson is.

When trying to figure out how Wilson pulled off the highest number jersey sales, the answer is clear: the NFL youth can identify with Wilson more. He’s a young, star QB on the defending Super Bowl champions, and the young players are looking up to him more and more, much like when Manning was with the Indianapolis Colts years ago.

It also doesn’t hurt that he is on one of the most popular teams, and although it is surprising that he had the most jersey sales this early in his career, it likely won’t be the last time his No. 3 jersey tops NFL jersey sales.

Justin Broyles is a Pirates writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @Tweets_ByJ, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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