Which NFL Prospects Caused the Most Chatter on Draft Day?

Topline Metrics

• 2021’s NFL Draft Total Tweet volume and Emotional Reactions slightly decreased compared to 2020’s outlier year, however, outperformed 2019’s NFL draft

• The 2021 NFL Draft also saw the highest rate of passion compared to the previous 2 NFL Drafts, earning a 32% Reaction Rate in 2021

  • Higher Reaction Rates indicate a more emotionally engaged audience year over year

  • Last year’s outlier performance was potentially affected by the pandemic, with fans looking for anything sports related to watch at the beginning of lockdowns

  • Notably, the 2021 Draft showed much higher rates of fan passion specifically around the players themselves, with 38% of all conversation around the draft focused on the athletes, an increase of 32% compared to 2020’s NFL Draft

Highly Engaging Players

Justin Fields

• Justin Fields drove the most engagement around the NFL Draft of any player, driving 7% of all engagement around the draft

• Justin Fields falling all the way to the 11th picks had fans sounding off with the highest Emotional Reactions inclusive of love (17% of all Justin Fields Emotional Reactions), dislike (13% of all Justin Fields Emotional Reactions), and excited (12% of all Justin Fields Emotional Reactions)

  • Negative commentary surrounding Justin Fields is fear among NFL fans that the Bears might ruin his career based on their track record of unsuccessful quarterbacks

  • Verbatims:

    • Love: “Guess I’m rooting for the Bears for the first time since the 1985 Super Bowl season. Go Justin Fields!”

    • Dislike: “Well now I’m convinced Justin Fields is going to suck. Poor dude has no chance playing for the Bears”

    • Excited: “Justin Fields to DA BEARS baby!!!!!! Woooo!!! #NFLDraft 🐻🏈” 

Mac Jones

• Mac Jones drove the second-highest engagement of the night nearly earning 7% of all Emotional Reactions around the 2021 NFL Draft

• With many fans unconvinced of Mac Jones’ talent, the top Emotional Reactions from fans around him include funny (20% of all Mac Jones Emotional Reactions), love (18% of all Mac Jones Emotional Reactions), and enjoy (11% of all Mac Jones Emotional Reactions)

  • Verbatims:

    • Funny: “If I’m a Patriots fan I’m running it back with cam lmao mac jones not it”

    • Love: “Mac Jones to the Patriots is just so perfect. In so many ways.”

    • Enjoy: “The Patriots literally sat there and Mac Jones fell in their laps. Truly remarkable.”

Trey Lance

• Coming in as the third-highest driver of conversation around the 2021 NFL Draft is Trey Lance, who drove 4% of all engagement around the night

• Viewers of the draft were shocked at the 49ers selection of Trey Lance, with 25% of all Emotional Reactions related to Trey Lance being crazy

  • Verbatims:

    • Crazy: “Wow...not a single FBS Offer to play QB..... Trey Lance goes #3. Dont matter where you go, what matter is what you do where you at. #freegame”

    • Love: “#kyle would not trade two first to pick Mac Jones. Trey Lance is gonna make the offense so versatile. This is amazing. LFG. #49ers #NFLDraft2021”

    • Enjoy: “From Marshall, Minnesota to the third overall pick in the NFL Draft. Not bad for Trey Lance!”

Trevor Lawrence

• The fourth highest driver of conversation around the 2021 NFL Draft is Trevor Lawrence, the number pick in the draft who drove over 3% of all engagement

• Trevor Lawrence was clearly expected to be taken first overall, driving Emotional Reactions such as enjoy (24% of all Trevor Lawrence Emotional Reactions), love (18% of all Trevor Lawrence Emotional Reactions), and funny (16% of all Trevor Lawrence Emotional Reactions)

  • Funny Emotional Reactions were mainly caused by fans thinking it would be funny if Jacksonville didn’t take Trevor Lawrence with their number 1 overall pick

  • Verbatims:

    • Enjoy: “Since @Trevorlawrencee is officially a Jag that means he’s not a Tiger anymore so I can like him now ok cool GO JAGS.”

    • Love: “#trevorlawrence brings nothing but faith and hope to Jacksonville! 🏈 This kid is special! 🔥”

    • Funny: “the jags not choosing trevor lawrence would just be laugh out loud if i’m being honest”

Najee Harris

• Driving the 5th highest amount of engagement the night of the 2021 NFL Draft is Najee Harris, who drove just over 3% of all Emotional Reactions during the airing

• Najee Harris was able to drive extremely high rates of love (30% of all Najee Harris Emotional Reactions) and support (24% of all Najee Harris Emotional Reactions), and viewers heavily disliked (16% of all Najee Harris Emotional Reactions) the Steelers selection of him

  • Verbatims:

    • Love: “Another reason to love Najee Harris - today while throwing a party for kids at a homeless shelter, he posed for photos with every person, even the pizza delivery driver who pulled up when Najee was leaving. & then he changed in the parking lot”

    • Supportive: “LETS GOO!!! NAJEE HARRIS WELCOME TO PITTSBURGH 🙏🙏”

    • Dislike: “Steelers taking Najee would be super underwhelming. That team does not value RBs.”

Canvs emotion measurement consists of 42 core emotions proprietary to the Canvs platform, which identifies through public comments how viewers are reacting to airings.

Canvs is the easiest and most accurate Customer Insights platform to instantly analyze open-ended text, going beyond traditional sentiment analysis to provide best-in-class emotion and topical measurement.