It’s a new era for the Pittsburgh Steelers entering the 2022 season, and with that comes a new era of merchandise for Steelers fans across the world.
With familiar faces like Ben Roethlisberger and JuJu Smith-Schuster off into retirement or another team, Steelers fans have been clamoring to get their hands on new merchandise to rep their favorite teams and players, leading to three players landing inside the top 50 of the most recent NFLPA player sales rankings on Friday.
Those three players shouldn’t come as a surprise as T.J. Watt, Kenny Pickett and Najee Harris all landed inside the top 50 for the black and gold, according to the NFLPA’s rankings that dropped Friday, listing the top 50 NFL player sales from March 1, 2022 to May 31, 2022.
In an offense-heavy league, it isn’t surprising that just two defensive players cracked the top 20 overall. In fact, in the offense-heavy league, seven of the top 10 in player sales were quarterbacks, while two others were receivers, and one was a defender, that being Los Angeles Rams’ star Aaron Donald.
Watt was the only other defender in the top 20, landing at No. 17 overall in player sales, edging out Baltimore Ravens’ star quarterback Lamar Jackson one spot behind him at No. 18.
Pickett, entering his first season as a Steeler coming off of a historic run at the University of Pittsburgh that saw him become a Heisman Trophy finalist and the only quarterback drafted in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft, landed at No. 26 on the NFLPA list between the likes of Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Matt Ryan.
Second-year running back Najee Harris landed at No. 28 on the list for the Steelers, cracking the rankings as the top running back in sales overall, just edging out Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs at No. 29 and Tennessee Titans’ star running back Derrick Henry at No. 33.
According to the NFLPA, Pickett’s placement on the player sales list in his first season coming up from the 2022 NFLPA Rising Stars list is an early predictor for future Top 50 retail stardom. As the future franchise quarterback in Pittsburgh, and already well-established in the Steel City from his time at Pitt, the arrow is pointing up for Pickett’s stock from a merchandise standpoint overall.
Elsewhere, Harris cracked the top 5 of merchandise sales among youth, while Pickett landed inside the top 5 in retail sales from BreakingT, which is a shirt company that makes real-time, moment-driven apparel.
