With the NFL regular season now over the attention is towards the 58th Superbowl and the excitement is palpable. The 2023 season gave us highs and lows, breakthrough moments, unexpected upsets, and standout performances from many players.
With the Super Bowl approaching, Ticketgum created a study to analyze the most influential NFL players and find out whose Instagram following grew the most in 2023.
Top 5 NFL stars with the highest follower growth in 2023
|
Pos. |
Name |
Age |
Instagram Handle |
Followers Jan. 2023 |
Followers Jan 2024 |
Growth YoY % |
|
1 |
Travis Kelce |
34 |
killatrav |
1,670,800 |
5,385,822 |
222% |
|
2 |
Jalen Hurts |
25 |
jalenhurts |
1,000,000 |
1,741,020 |
74% |
|
3 |
Brock Purdy |
24 |
brock.purdy13 |
500,000 |
841,704 |
68% |
|
4 |
Joe Burrow |
27 |
joeyb_9 |
3,160,300 |
4,084,168 |
29% |
|
5 |
Josh Allen |
27 |
joshallenqb |
980,000 |
1,200,445 |
22% |
Full data here.
Leading the charts with an impressive 222% Year-over-Year (YoY) growth is none other than Travis Kelce, widely regarded as one of the greatest tight ends in football history. He started the 2023 with over 1.6 million followers and experienced a meteoric rise, particularly during the period when news about Taylor Swift made headlines in the tabloids around July, doubling his followers count in less than four months. What a year for Kelce!
In second place is Jalen Hurts with an outstanding 74% growth YoY. The Philadelphia Eagles QB is regarded as one of the most promising talents even if his season with the Eagles has not been great. He started the 2023 with a million instagram followers but quickly rose when he led the Eagles to their conference’s top seed and an appearance in Super Bowl LVII.
On the lowest step of the podium is Brock Purdy with a superb 68% growth YoY. The American QB caught the eyes of many in his rookie season, showing great talent and potential.. Following his great rookie year the 49ers confirmed him as a starting QB for the 2023 season. Since January he has gained nearly 350,000 new followers. The future for Purdy looks great!
In fourth position is Joe Burrow, with a 29% growth YoY. Following in fifth position is Josh Allenclosing his incredible year with 22% growth YoY.
