The 2023 and 2024 NFL Drafts have a common theme developing in that a number of QBs are expected to be drafted early in the first round, and based on data from influencer marketing platform CreatorIQ, that’s going to mean big exposure dollars for those signal callers.
Texans QB C.J. Stroud may not have been drafted No. 1 overall in last year’s NFL Draft, but he did lead the 2023 rookie class in digital earned media value (EMV). Stroud, who went No. 2 overall, pulled in $18 million in EMV last season (CreatorIQ terms EMV as “an influencer marketing metric used to quantify the value of social media content posted by individual creators, publications and brands” and the resulting engagement from those).
Stroud no doubt boosted these numbers himself with an NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year performance, combined with taking the Texans to the playoffs for the first time since 2019 (The playoff run didn’t pay off as much for Stroud’s teammate and Defensive Rookie of the Year, DE Will Anderson Jr., who finished 13th on the list at $638,800 of EMV).
Panthers QB Bryce Young (the first overall pick) came in second among 2023 draftees at $10.2 million, while Colts QB Anthony Robinson -- even after suffering a season-ending injury -- came in third at $10.1 million. The highest EMV for a defensive player comes from Seahawks CB Devon Witherspoon at $2.4 million. The highest for any non-QB offensive player is from Falcons RB Bijan Robinson at $5.6 million.
CreatorIQ uses influencer marketing software to track content on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter along with websites and blogs. It doesn’t include a team’s own social accounts.
