The exponential rise in social media followers for the Packers’ Jordan Love is an example of how the NFL Draft can increase the sudden celebrity status of athletes. Love, who largely flew under the radar during his college career at Utah State, saw Instagram followers jump 281% and Twitter followers leap 419% after his surprise selection by the Packers with the No. 26 pick. Those increases are by far the largest for any player drafted last weekend. Joe Burrow, who went No. 1 to the Bengals, entered the draft with about 926,000 followers on Instagram -- the most for any first-round pick. He exited the weekend with more than 1.06 million followers, an increase of 15%. Tua Tagovailoa began the draft with the most Twitter followers at nearly 293,000. That jumped 12% after being picked fifth by the Dolphins, but Burrow’s Twitter following spiked by 25% to put him at more than 343,000. CeeDee Lamb moved past the Redskins' Chase Young to become the third-most followed first-rounder on Instagram, seeing a 62% spike after being picked by the Cowboys.
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