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Featured Last Updated Jan 29 2026, 9:28 AM

The Most Loved and Most Hated NFL Players, According to Fans

Amy Harris Sports Betting Expert
7 minute read
The Most Loved and Most Hated NFL Players, According to Fans

NFL Fan Sentiment Index: The Most Loved and Most Hated Players

NFL fans don’t whisper — they argue.

To see which players draw the most praise — and the most criticism — Vegas Insider analyzed Reddit discussions across NFL and team subreddits, tracking how often players are mentioned and whether that conversation skews positive or negative.

The result is a league-wide ranking of the NFL’s most loved and most hated players. Love and hate are measured separately, so the same player can rank highly in both.

How rankings work: Players are ranked from No. 1 downward by Love Score and Hate Score. Scores are normalized on a 0–10 scale for readability, where 10.0 represents the strongest positive or negative fan reaction in the dataset.

Key Findings

  • Josh Allen is the most loved player in the NFL.
    Allen ranks No. 1 overall with a Love Score of 10.0, backed by overwhelmingly positive sentiment across one of the largest discussion volumes in the league.
  • Jalen Hurts draws the most criticism league-wide.
    Hurts ranks No. 1 on the hate list (Hate Score: 10.0), reflecting the strongest negative fan reaction in the dataset.
  • The top of both lists is quarterback-heavy.
    Quarterbacks dominate the upper tiers of love and hate rankings, highlighting how visibility and responsibility amplify fan emotion.
  • High attention creates polarization.
    Players with the biggest conversation volume are far more likely to rank highly for both love and hate — showing that debate, not consensus, drives sentiment.

The Most Loved NFL Players

These players generate the strongest positive fan sentiment across Reddit, weighted by how often they’re discussed. Higher Love Scores reflect sustained approval, not isolated praise.

What stands out
  • A clear top tier.
    Josh Allen (No. 1, 10.0), Kenneth Grant (No. 2, 9.7), and Cam Ward (No. 3, 9.56) sit in a distinct upper tier for positive fan reaction.
  • The top 10 is tightly packed.
    From Bo Nix at No. 4 (9.45) through Aaron Rodgers at No. 10 (8.89), Love Scores cluster closely — signaling broad approval rather than a single runaway favorite.
  • High-volume stars stay high because praise holds up.
    Allen, Daniel Jones (No. 7, 9.20), and Russell Wilson (No. 8, 9.01) remain near the top because positive sentiment persists even at heavy discussion volume.

The Most Hated NFL Players

These players generate the strongest negative fan sentiment across Reddit, weighted by how often they’re discussed. Higher Hate Scores reflect sustained criticism, not one-off backlash.

What stands out
  • Hurts leads by a wide margin.
    Jalen Hurts ranks No. 1 with a Hate Score of 10.0, separating himself clearly from the rest of the league.
  • The next tier reflects concentrated criticism.
    Jake Moody (No. 2, 9.52) and Luther Burden (No. 3, 9.38) rank highly due to the share of negative discussion, not just overall volume.
  • Big-name quarterbacks still draw heat.
    Daniel Jones (No. 5, 7.31), Justin Fields (No. 8, 6.14), and Aaron Rodgers (No. 12, 5.80) all sit near the top of the hate list — reflecting scrutiny that scales with visibility.

The NFL’s Most Polarizing Players

Some players rank highly on both lists — drawing strong support and sharp criticism at the same time. These are the players fans argue about most.

Players Who Rank Highly for Both Love and Hate

Josh Allen (Buffalo Bills)
Love Rank: No. 1
Hate Rank: No. 17

Allen ranks first for love while still landing inside the top 20 for hate — proof that the biggest stars attract the widest emotional swing.

Daniel Jones (Indianapolis Colts)
Love Rank: No. 7
Hate Rank: No. 5

Jones sits near the top of both lists, driven by heavy discussion volume and sharply divided expectations.

Justin Fields (New York Jets)
Love Rank: No. 9
Hate Rank: No. 8

Fields generates near-equal measures of optimism and frustration, making him one of the most debated players in the league.

Joe Burrow (Cincinnati Bengals)
Love Rank: No. 21
Hate Rank: No. 15

Even established stars experience polarization, as expectations keep criticism present alongside praise.

Jalen Hurts (Philadelphia Eagles)
Love Rank: No. 70
Hate Rank: No. 1

Hurts leads the league in criticism while still drawing meaningful positive discussion — a classic signature of a franchise quarterback under constant spotlight.

Conclusion

NFL fan sentiment isn’t driven by agreement — it’s driven by attention. The players who dominate conversation aren’t always the most liked or most criticized, but the ones who consistently provoke reaction.

In that sense, love and hate aren’t opposites. They’re often two sides of the same spotlight.

Related NFL resources

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Methodology

Vegas Insider analyzed Reddit discussions to measure how fans talk about NFL players — positively and negatively.

  • Player pool: Active NFL rosters were collected from Pro Football Reference and mapped to current teams.
  • Data source: Comments were gathered from NFL and team-related subreddits.
  • Matching: Only comments mentioning a player’s full name were counted.
  • Sentiment: Each comment was scored as positive, negative, or neutral using VADER sentiment analysis.
  • Threshold: A minimum mentions threshold was applied to reduce noise from very small sample sizes.

Two sentiment indexes were calculated:

  • Love Score: (Positive Mentions / Total Mentions) × log(Total Mentions)
  • Hate Score: (Negative Mentions / Total Mentions) × log(Total Mentions)

Normalization: Raw scores were normalized to a 0–10 scale using min–max normalization across the full dataset. Scores are designed for comparison and ranking (No. 1 downward), with 10.0 representing the strongest reaction observed.

Sources

  • Reddit: NFL and team-specific subreddits (fan comments analyzed for sentiment)
  • Pro Football Reference: Active NFL rosters and team assignments
  • VADER Sentiment Analysis: Social-media sentiment scoring framework

Full dataset: View the complete rankings of all analyzed NFL players

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Amy Harris

Amy Harris is part of the Vegas Insider Research team, specializing in data-driven investigations and consumer insight analysis. She translates complex datasets into credible, media-ready stories that explore how technology, behavior, and economics intersect in everyday life. More from Amy Harris
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