Who Is the NFL’s Most-Liked Player Prior to the Playoffs?

Treated like a pariah by many of his teammates during the offseason due to comments he made about kneeling during the national anthem amidst the peak of the Black Lives Matter movement, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has worked his way back into the good graces of his locker room and, apparently, the court of public opinion.

According to a Morning Consult poll, the 41-year-old QB is back to being the most-liked skill-position player in the NFL following a dip in popularity in June in the wake of his anthem comments.

Brees scored a net favorability rating of 37 among U.S. adults in the poll conducted prior to the final week of the regular season, a slight decline from the 42 score he notched in the same poll that was conducted prior to the 2019 postseason. (Former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning also scored a 42 at that time.)

With a net favorability rating of 35, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is directly behind Brees. The reigning Super Bowl MVP, Mahomes scored a 27 a year ago.

Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers (32) and Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks (29) ranked third and fourth in the survey and Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald (25) rounded out the top five.

Tom Brady, who 90 percent of respondents knew by name (compared to the 69 percent who knew Brees), moved from New England to Tampa Bay this season and also moved in the polling.

Brady had a net favorability score of 12 in December 2019 but saw that number jump to 23 last month, tying him for eighth in the NFL. Deshaun Watson of the Texans and Julio Jones of the Falcons are tied with Brady.

“At least 537 U.S. adults were asked about each of the 164 quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends included in the survey, with results carrying a margin of error of 4 percent,” according to Morning Consult.