In the sports media business these days, we are inundated with emails pitching some sort of ranking or odds.
Is Aaron Rodgers the ‘most popular NFL player in Minnesota’?
An analysis of Google habits suggests former Packers and current Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers is the most-searched NFL player in Minnesota. But what does that really tell us?
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 7, 2024 at 6:50PM
They are typically mundane, useless or both.
Did you know Minnesotans are 17th-most likely to eat sandwiches among all states? (This is not real, but it could be). Here are the odds of where Player X will be drafted or traded. Did you know Team X has the ninth-most expensive tickets in League Y?
Usually these are deleted quickly. Occasionally, though, one of them will catch my eye. Like this one from Tuesday proclaiming in the subject line:
“REVEALED: Aaron Rodgers is the most popular NFL player in Minnesota.”
Wait, what? I’d like to know more.
As it turns out, a gambling web site has “analyzed Google search data from the past 12 months to see which players were most popular in each US state.”
And Rodgers was, on average, the most-Googled NFL player in Minnesota in that 12-month span.
But what does that really tell us? I tried to answer that on Wednesday’s Daily Delivery podcast, and I’ll further explain it here.
First, I guess it’s just flat-out interesting that Rodgers was Googled by Minnesotans an average of 84,450 times per month in the last year. As someone who has written extensively about the former Packers and current Jets QB in that time frame, I’m glad I don’t know exactly how many of those were from me.
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins was a close second on the list with 81,375 Google searches by Minnesotans per month. Next was Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (55,850), Vikings WR Justin Jefferson (54,467) and former Vikings WR Adam Thielen (30,317).
But does that mean those are the five most popular NFL players in Minnesota? Not really.
If you’re a Vikings/NFL fan in Minnesota, there’s a good chance you don’t need to use Google to find information about Vikings players. You know where to look, and hopefully your first stop is the Star Tribune.
You use Google for things you don’t know about.
Like, say, whether Aaron Rodgers is going to get traded, what’s up with his injury and/or what outlandish thing he has said most recently.
Rodgers was the most-searched NFL player in 13 different states. Kelce, who you might have heard is dating Taylor Swift, crushed that by being the most-searched player in 31 states.
Kelce’s teammate, Patrick Mahomes -- the best quarterback and best player on the planet -- was the most-searched in zero states.
So let’s read this as a curiosity contest more than a popularity contest.
Here are four more things to know today:
*The new sports mega-streaming bundle announced Tuesday is interesting. I talked about it a little on Wednesday’s podcast and will write more about it on Thursday. The upshot: I’m skeptical that it will truly move the needle with consumers.
*Also on today’s podcast, Jerry Zgoda joined me to talk about Minnesota United and their strange offseason. With their MLS regular-season opener just 17 days away, they don’t yet have a permanent head coach in place — and might not until after the season starts.
*The Gophers had a very nice win Tuesday. The Wolves suffered a historic loss.
*Vikings wide receiver Jordan Addison is expected to be my guest on Thursday’s podcast.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
