Was Josh Allen the best choice for Madden 24 cover? Numbers reveal Bills QB’s damning lack of popularity

Earlier this week, it was announced that Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen would be on the cover of Madden 24.

Some were surprised that Madden chose Allen to grace the cover. Allen hasn't made it to a Super Bowl, hasn't been selected to a first-team All-Pro, and hasn't won an MVP, or an Offensive Player of the Year Award.

However, he has been selected to two Pro Bowls, a second-team All-Pro, and has thrown for 138 touchdowns and 18,397 yards, while rushing for 3,087 yards and 38 touchdowns.

Josh Allen is for sure one of the best quarterbacks in the league, but numbers show that he isn't even a top-10 marketable player in the NFL. In fact, he didn't even crack the top-15.

Via Michael Calabrese of OLBG.com, the top-five most marketable NFL players as of May 16, 2023, are Aaron Rodgers, Odell Beckham Jr., Patrick Mahomes, George Kittle, and Davante Adams.

Here's what they said about Aaron Rodgers:

"The four time MVP proves his marketability with an impress audience reachability of 91% and large earned media value of $55.94.

"With 69.84%, Rodgers has also garnered the most positive sentiments on his social media posts and scores second highest for audience quality (86/100) which helped him secure the number one spot on our list of most marketable NFL stars.

"Off the back of this, he has used his excellent marketability to earn endorsements with brands such as State Farm, Adidas, Pizza Hut, and Ford, to name just a few."

Rodgers' estimated earnings/charges per post: $8,600.

Odell Beckham Jr.'s brand deals with Nike, Pepsi, Lenovo and Beats by Dre, along with his huge following make him far more marketable than Allen. They have OBJ's estimated earnings/charges per post at $49,200.

On Mahomes, Calabrese said the following:

"Having one of the largest social media following of any active NFL star (5.6m), Mahomes scores remarkably high for audience reachability (94.3%) and also well for audience authenticity (69.24%). Combine this with the third-highest audience quality score (83/100) and a strong positive sentiment on Instagram posts (58.36%), Mahomes is likely any brand’s dream."

Patrick Mahomes' estimated earnings/charges per post are $21,200.

Compare that to Josh Allen, who has 1.1 million followers, an audience quality score of 43, and a $25.24 value per post.

Where does Josh Allen rank among the 20 most marketable players in the NFL?

While Josh Allen isn't a top-10 most marketable player in the NFL, he does rank number 17 on the list. Players such as Baker Mayfield, Dak Prescott, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and many others rank above Allen.

Here is a chart of the top 20 most marketable NFL players:

Madden could have easily selected other marketable athletes such as Aaron Rodgers, Tyreek Hill, or Davante Adams.

Josh Allen will enter the 2023-2024 season looking to make and win his first Super Bowl. The Bills are one of the best teams in the AFC and could compete for a championship this season, but that has been the case for a few years now.