Tom Brady is a very popular player. One of the most popular in the NFL. Unsurprisingly, he is at his most popular in and around Boston, as well as the rest of New England. He does play for the Patriots, after all.
Much more surprisingly, according to data acquired by NFL.com, Brady is apparently very popular in the following states:
- New York
- Florida
- Indiana
What do those states have in common? Well, they're home to some of the Patriots' biggest rivals. New York is home to the Buffalo Bills, as well as (sort) the Jets and Giants. (The fanbases are largely based there, even though the teams play in north Jersey.) Florida is the home of the Miami Dolphins, as well as a Jacksonville Jaguars team that just lost to the Patriots in the AFC Championship. And Indiana is home to the Indianapolis Colts, whose general manager recently admitted that his team's rivalry with the Patriots is back.
Brady led the NFL in overall merchandise sales from Sept. 1, 2017 through Jan. 18, 2018, per NFL.com, and was also the leading seller in an NFL-high 10 states. Carson Wentz finished second in both merchandise sales and states led (nine), while Dak Prescott was third in both categories (seven states). Here's a map of the leading seller in each state.
Other players that appeared on the list are Russell Wilson, Adam Thielen, Julio Jones, Von Miller, Travis Kelce, Derek Carr, Larry Fitzgerald, Alvin Kamara, Deshaun Watson, Christian McCaffrey, Marcus Mariota, Mitchell Trubisky, Matthew Stafford, Aaron Rodgers, Antonio Brown, and Ben Roethlisberger.
That makes for 11 quarterbacks (Brady, Wentz, Prescott, Wilson, Carr, Rodgers, Stafford, Trubisky, Roethlisberger, Mariota, Watson) and eight non-quarterbacks (Fitzgerald, Miller, Thielen, Kelce, Kamara, Jones, McCaffrey, Brown); 16 veterans and four rookies (Trubisky, Kamara, McCaffrey, Watson) ; and two NFC East players, three NFC South players, four NFC North players, two NFC West players, one AFC East player, two AFC South players, two AFC North players, and three AFC West players.
