Mahomes, Allen and Kelce Own the AI Endorsement Answer. Most of the NFL Doesn't Exist to It.

Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Travis Kelce command the largest share of endorsement-intent AI answers among the 50 NFL players evaluated by 5W and Talent Resources ahead of the 2026 season opener on September 9. The top five players account for 61% of all citations recorded, while more than half of the group scores in the single digits despite active roster positions and national television exposure.

This report applies the same four-dimension scoring model used by Talent Resources and 5W for the In Tune With AI athlete research (May 2026) and the Creator Documentation Index (June 2026). The model has been expanded to cover a 50-player NFL cohort, with publication timed to coincide with the kickoff-week news cycle.

01

Five players account for 61% of citation share. Mahomes, Allen, Kelce, Darnold and Walker dominate endorsement-intent AI responses across the complete pool of 50 players tested.

02

Six players in the kickoff matchup receive a recency lift. Players from the Seahawks and Patriots—the two teams competing in the September 9 rematch of Super Bowl LX—appear disproportionately near the top. However, the effect does not benefit every player on the rematch rosters equally.

03

17% of answers reference a fabricated or outdated deal. This fabrication rate falls between the 18% recorded in the Celebrity Endorsement Index and the 22% found in the Beauty AI Endorsement Index.

04

28 of the 50 players score below 15. This group includes several Pro Bowl selections at offensive line and cornerback—positions AI engines rarely mention in a sponsor-facing context, regardless of on-field performance.

"The kickoff matchup between the Seahawks and Patriots is doing more for four players' AI visibility than a full season of highlights for players on other rosters. Brands evaluating a fourth-quarter endorsement deal should know which players AI engines are already naming, and which ones AI engines are naming incorrectly."

Ronn Torossian · Founder, 5W

Methodology

The four signals behind every score

Each of the 50 players was evaluated across four weighted dimensions, following the methodology that Talent Resources and 5W validated in two previous joint studies. Standardized sponsor-facing and fan-facing prompt sets were run across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity between August 18 and August 24, 2026.

Scores are directional and modeled: they represent a standardized snapshot of engine behavior during the test window, not a permanent ranking. AI engines update continuously and answers vary by session and prompt phrasing, consistent with the disclosure language used across the 5W AI Visibility Index series.

Complete Rankings

The full field: all 50 players ranked

The top five entries are highlighted. Scroll to view the complete pool.

Rank	Player	Team	Score	Engines	Tier
1	Patrick Mahomes	Kansas City Chiefs	97	4/4	Retrieval Anchor
2	Josh Allen	Buffalo Bills	94	4/4	Retrieval Anchor
3	Travis Kelce	Kansas City Chiefs	91	4/4	Retrieval Anchor
4	Sam Darnold	Seattle Seahawks	89	4/4	Retrieval Anchor
5	Kenneth Walker III	Seattle Seahawks	87	4/4	Retrieval Anchor
6	Lamar Jackson	Baltimore Ravens	86	4/4	Cited
7	Ja'Marr Chase	Cincinnati Bengals	82	4/4	Cited
8	Justin Jefferson	Minnesota Vikings	80	4/4	Cited
9	Cooper Kupp	Seattle Seahawks	78	4/4	Cited
10	Joe Burrow	Cincinnati Bengals	76	4/4	Cited
11	Drake Maye	New England Patriots	74	4/4	Cited
12	Tyreek Hill	Miami Dolphins	71	3/4	Cited
13	CeeDee Lamb	Dallas Cowboys	69	3/4	Cited
14	Saquon Barkley	Philadelphia Eagles	67	3/4	Cited
15	A.J. Brown	Philadelphia Eagles	63	3/4	Moderate
16	Myles Garrett	Cleveland Browns	60	3/4	Moderate
17	Christian Gonzalez	New England Patriots	57	3/4	Moderate
18	Nick Bosa	San Francisco 49ers	54	3/4	Moderate
19	Trevor Lawrence	Jacksonville Jaguars	49	2/4	Moderate
20	Bijan Robinson	Atlanta Falcons	45	2/4	Moderate
21	Puka Nacua	Los Angeles Rams	41	2/4	Recoverable
22	T.J. Watt	Pittsburgh Steelers	38	2/4	Recoverable
23	Jordan Love	Green Bay Packers	34	2/4	Recoverable
24	George Pickens	Dallas Cowboys	29	1/4	Recoverable
25	Jason Myers	Seattle Seahawks	12	1/4	Recoverable
26	Derrick Henry	Baltimore Ravens	11	1/4	Recoverable
27	Amon-Ra St. Brown	Detroit Lions	10	1/4	Recoverable
28	Jared Goff	Detroit Lions	9	1/4	Recoverable
29	Brock Purdy	San Francisco 49ers	9	1/4	Recoverable
30	George Kittle	San Francisco 49ers	8	1/4	Recoverable
31	DeVonta Smith	Philadelphia Eagles	8	1/4	Recoverable
32	Jonathan Taylor	Indianapolis Colts	7	1/4	Recoverable
33	C.J. Stroud	Houston Texans	7	1/4	Recoverable
34	Nico Collins	Houston Texans	6	1/4	Recoverable
35	Baker Mayfield	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	6	1/4	Recoverable
36	Mike Evans	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	5	0/4	Recoverable
37	Kyler Murray	Arizona Cardinals	5	0/4	Recoverable
38	Marvin Harrison Jr.	Arizona Cardinals	4	0/4	Recoverable
39	Trey McBride	Arizona Cardinals	4	0/4	Recoverable
40	Matthew Stafford	Los Angeles Rams	4	0/4	Recoverable
41	Malik Nabers	New York Giants	3	0/4	Recoverable
42	Garrett Wilson	New York Jets	3	0/4	Recoverable
43	Sauce Gardner	New York Jets	3	0/4	Recoverable
44	Caleb Williams	Chicago Bears	2	0/4	Recoverable
45	Brock Bowers	Las Vegas Raiders	2	0/4	Recoverable
46	Maxx Crosby	Las Vegas Raiders	2	0/4	Recoverable
47	Justin Herbert	Los Angeles Chargers	1	0/4	Recoverable
48	Derwin James	Los Angeles Chargers	1	0/4	Recoverable
49	Rashee Rice	Kansas City Chiefs	1	0/4	Recoverable
50	Zack Martin	Dallas Cowboys	0	0/4	Recoverable

Source: 5W and Talent Resources GEO audit, August 2026. Directional modeled estimates across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity.

KICKOFF EFFECT

The kickoff rematch lifts four players but leaves two behind

Six players from the two teams competing in the NFL's September 9 season-opening rematch of Super Bowl LX are included in this Index. Four of them—Darnold, Walker, Kupp and Maye—rank within the top eleven. Gonzalez and Myers score lower, despite delivering standout performances in that same game.

Gonzalez, the Patriots cornerback who forced two turnovers in that Super Bowl, scores 57. Myers, who converted a Super Bowl-record five field goals in the same game, scores only 12—the lowest mark among the top 25.

Super Bowl LX, by the numbers

Seattle Seahawks 29, New England Patriots 13. Played on February 8, 2026, at Levi's Stadium. Attendance: 70,823. U.S. television viewership: 124.9 million. Cost of a 30-second commercial: $10 million. Halftime performer: Bad Bunny, featuring Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. Source: Super Bowl LX record.

Why it works

The pattern aligns with how generative engines weigh recent, widely reported events alongside career-long fame. A February 2026 Super Bowl appearance—covered by NFL.com, CBS News and wire services within the retrieval windows used by most AI engines—is the most likely explanation for the citation advantage enjoyed by Darnold, Walker, Kupp and Maye over players with comparable career statistics but no recent title-game coverage.

Business Implications

17% of AI answers cite the wrong NFL sponsor deal

The 17% fabrication rate recorded in this Index is not distributed evenly. Players who experienced multiple sponsor changes within the past 18 months receive lower Association Sentiment scores because engines display outdated pairings alongside current ones, weakening the clarity of the active deal. This reflects a documentation gap, not a lack of popularity.

Why it works

Large language models produce the statistically likely continuation of a sponsor-athlete pairing using training data that may predate a contract's expiration or renegotiation. Without a dated, structured update to the player's public sponsorship record, the model receives no signal that the pairing has changed and continues to cite the previous deal.

"Talent Resources has spent two decades building the relationships that put an athlete in front of a brand. This Index adds a new layer to that work: knowing which players AI is already recommending, and which ones need their record built out before a deal ever gets discussed."

Mike Heller · Founder and CEO, Talent Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the NFL Kickoff AI Endorsement Index 2026?

The NFL Kickoff AI Endorsement Index 2026 is a research study by 5W and Talent Resources that evaluates the AI Citation Share of 50 NFL players across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity. It measures how frequently and accurately AI engines mention players in sponsor-facing and fan-facing responses.

2. Which NFL players ranked highest in the Index?

Patrick Mahomes ranked first with a score of 97, followed by Josh Allen with 94 and Travis Kelce with 91. Sam Darnold and Kenneth Walker III completed the top five with scores of 89 and 87, respectively.

3. How much citation share did the top five NFL players capture?

The top five players captured 61% of all endorsement-intent citations recorded across the complete 50-player group.

4. How were the NFL players evaluated?

Each player was assessed using four weighted dimensions: AI Recognition at 30%, Association Sentiment at 25%, Engagement Depth at 25% and Cross-Engine Consistency at 20%.

5. Which AI platforms were included in the research?

The standardized prompts were tested across four generative AI platforms: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity.

6. When was the research conducted?

The prompts were run between August 18 and August 24, 2026. The report was published on August 26, 2026, ahead of the September 9 season opener.

7. What does the Recoverable tier mean?

Recoverable is the lowest of the four Citation Share tiers. Players in this tier are rarely mentioned without prompting by AI engines in a sponsor-facing context. Thirty of the 50 players tested were placed in this tier.

8. How accurate were AI-generated answers about NFL sponsorship deals?

The study found that 17% of AI-generated answers referenced an expired, renegotiated or nonexistent sponsor deal. The report identifies this as a documentation gap rather than a popularity problem.

9. How did the kickoff rematch affect player visibility?

Six players from the Seahawks and Patriots were included in the Index. Four—Sam Darnold, Kenneth Walker III, Cooper Kupp and Drake Maye—ranked within the top eleven, suggesting that recent and widely covered events can strengthen AI visibility.

10. Are the Index scores permanent rankings?

No. The scores are directional, modeled estimates representing a standardized snapshot of AI engine behavior during the testing period. AI engines update continuously, and responses can vary by session and prompt wording.