LAST UPDATED ON JAN. 16, 2022 AT 5:29 AM | 7 MINUTE READ
Top selling NFL jerseys are easily the most popular merchandise for America’s most popular sport.
They do not, however, make for a good investment.
NFL jerseys rarely go up in value, even if you don’t wear them.
For this reason, it makes little sense to spend hundreds of dollars for something that you’ll only wear on occasion.
Consequently, most NFL fans forgo the $325 Nike Elite in favor of much cheaper options like Limited, Game, and yes, even fake jerseys.
What if there was an NFL jersey whose value increased by as much as 1000%? How much would you pay, knowing that not only can you recoup your investment at any time, but make a healthy profit as well?
Autographed jerseys
An autograph can make a world of difference. To wit, an unsigned Tom Brady jersey costs no more or less than any other. A Brady NFL jersey signed, however, can cost thousands of dollars.
What’s more, there are several factors that can affect an autographed jerseys value, including, but not limited to:
- Death
- Popularity
- Achievements/Awards
- Signature moments
But first things first…
Top selling NFL jerseys 2013-2021
What follows is a top 10 list of best selling NFL jerseys for 8 years past, excluding 2019.
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The lists for 2018-2021 are composite, made necessary by the fact that there were 3 different lists from 3 different organizations.
In creating the list, we assigned a score to the player jersey depending on its rank among the NFL.com, NFLPA, & NFLShop.com rankings – i.e., #1 is given a 10, #2 = 9, #3 = 8, and so on. The combined score then determines its final position. Note: there doesn’t seem to be a 2021 list from NFL.com, so we used one from Fanatics, instead.
For example, Tom Brady ranks 3rd, 1st, & 4th on the 2018 lists, respectively, for a composite score of 25. Baker Mayfield, on the other hand, appears on only one list (NFL.com, 2nd), so his jersey gets a ‘9’.
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So here are the top selling NFL jerseys for the 2018-2021 seasons, with the composite scores in parenthesis:
| 2021 | 2020 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|
| Tom Brady (30) | Tom Brady (29) | Tom Brady (25) |
| Patrick Mahomes (18) | Patrick Mahomes (27) | Carson Wentz (23) |
| Josh Allen (17) | Aaron Rodgers (12) | Saquon Barkley (20) |
| Dak Prescott (16) | Lamar Jackson (11) | Jimmy Garoppolo (18) |
| CeeDee Lamb (15) | Cam Newton (9) | Khalil Mack (16) |
| Mac Jones (14) | Ezekiel Elliot Baker Mayfield Jimmy Garoppolo (8) | Aaron Rodgers (15) |
| Lamar Jackson (12) | Joe Burrow (7) | Dak Prescott (14) |
| Aaron Rodgers Tua Tagovailoa Joe Burrow (7) | CeeDee Lamb Khalil Mack Odell Beckham Jr. (6) | Ezekiel Elliot (13) |
| TJ Watt (6) | Russell Wilson Josh Jacobs (5) | Baker Mayfield (9) |
| Amari Cooper (5) | Drew Brees (4) | Antonio Brown (4) |
Observations
- Clearly, Tom Brady is also the GOAT when it comes to jersey sales. Not only is TB 12 the top seller in the past 3 seasons, but it also has a perfect score of 30 for 2021.
- Quarterbacks once again dominate the list – 9 of the 12 player jerseys are QBs.
- The Dallas Cowboys, with 3 players in the top 10, are the only team with more than one.
- For the first time since 2015, there isn’t a running back listed. Ezekiel Elliot was the only RB from 2016-2020, but didn’t make the cut this season.
- It seems that every year, a single defensive player makes the list. This season, it’s TJ Watt.
Top selling NFL jerseys 2013-2017
The top 10 list for these five seasons are from a single source each year:
| Pos. | 2017 (Fox Sports) | 2016 (Fox Sports) | 2015 (NFLShop.com) | 2014 (NFLPA) | 2013 (NFLShop.com) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carson Wentz | Tom Brady | Tom Brady | Russell Wilson | Colin Kaepernick |
| 2 | Tom Brady | Ezekiel Elliot | Cam Newton | Peyton Manning | Peyton Manning |
| 3 | Dak Prescott | Dak Prescott | Odell Beckham Jr. | Colin Kaepernick | Russell Wilson |
| 4 | Antonio Brown | Odell Beckham Jr. | Rob Gronkowski | Tom Brady | Adrian Peterson |
| 5 | Ezekiel Elliot | Rob Gronkowski | Peyton Manning | Aaron Rodgers | Robert Griffin III |
| 6 | Aaron Rodgers | Carson Wentz | Aaron Rodgers | Dez Bryant | Ryan Tannehill |
| 7 | Alejandro Villanueva | Derek Carr | Russell Wilson | Johnny Manziel | Tom Brady |
| 8 | Rob Gronkowski | Antonio Brown | Luke Kuechly | Drew Brees | Aaron Rodgers |
| 9 | Adam Thielen | Dez Bryant | Dez Bryant | Jason Witten | JJ Watt |
| 10 | Russell Wilson | Jason Witten | Jason Witten | JJ Watt | Drew Brees |
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What top selling NFL jerseys are worth
To get an idea of what top selling NFL jerseys are worth, we checked prices on sportsmemorabilia.com. Keep in mind that these are merely indicative of approximate value, and not necessarily what you’d get for selling the same item.
Here then is the site’s top ten, in order of descending price*:
- Tom Brady – $1599. Again, one word, or acronym, as the case may be: G.O.A.T.
- Aaron Rodgers – $700. Another Super Bowl ring could up that by a few hundred bucks.
- Peyton Manning – $650. How is his jersey not number two??
- Jason Witten – $630. Now here’s a shocker.
- Carson Wentz – $550. Ditto. Great player, but the dude’s played all of 3 seasons yet is still above…
- Drew Brees – $508. Should be number 4, IMHO.
- Russell Wilson – $508. What I said earlier about another SB trophy.
- Nick Foles – $500. 8th-place is pretty good for a QB that’s been a backup for most of his career.
- Ezekiel Elliot – $478. Seems about right.
- Dez Bryant – $450. Trending downward?
- *Based on cheapest available jersey
Comments
There’s an assumption of a Dallas Cowboys bias. In addition to their 3 members in the 2021 non-autographed rankings, the inclusion of 3 of their jerseys in the above list supports this theory. In addition, Dak Prescott’s jersey is number 15.
With a price tag of $122, Odell Beckham Jr.’s signed NFL jersey is only 26th-highest – $31 less than Ryan Tannehill’s.
It’s also just slightly more than the immortal Robert Griffin III’s jersey, as well as Johnny Manziel’s college jersey.
I guess trash talking on Twitter and bizarre displays of emotion does NOT increase autograph value.
A David Tyree jersey (remember him?) costs $145. That’s more than 4 other names from the lists that are presumably bigger and better, including OBJ.
See previous comment about “signature moments”.
Are autographed top selling NFL jerseys a good investment?
According to powerssportsmemorabilia.com, “ It is much more reliable to invest in the stock market than sports memorabilia…”.
But here’s the thing. We’re fans, first and foremost. So if we buy shares of Beyond Meat stock to make money, we’re investing. On the other hand, if we buy a signed NFL jersey to make money, we’re getting a “sweet jersey, bro!”
In short, you’re less concerned with “reliability” – no matter what you say – than you are about how you’re going to display Drew Brees’s autograph!!!
So then, the answer – from a fan’s standpoint – is yes, a signed NFL jersey can be well worth the money.
Conclusion
As you can see, it’s not unusual for an autographed jersey to increase fourfold in value. Hence, if you were strictly an investor, then signed top selling NFL jerseys are a good – but not great – investment.
But you’re not (strictly an investor), are you? Therefore, all you need to know as an NFL fan is how good that signed jersey is going to look in your sports den. Any money you make from it is just the cherry atop the sundae.
Furthermore, if sportsmemorabilia.com’s prices are too steep for you, well, they’re not the only game in town. There are other places that sell NFL signed jerseys (all with COAs) for far less.
To wit: