Most-hated person in NFL? Players, coaches, owners — even family members — made top 20

Jerry Jones is not the most-hated owner in the NFL, but he’s close.

According to a study of more than a million posts on Twitter during the month of December, Jones ranks 12th and Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott ranks 19th.

Jones is far from the most-hated person in the NFL. That title, according to BetOnline.ag, goes to Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers was associated with more than 266,000 negative tweets in December. More than twice than receiver Antonio Brown, who ranked second. Patriots coach Bill Belichick is third with more than 88,000 negative posts.

Jones, in fact, isn’t even the most-hated NFL owner. Jones, with nearly 25,000 negative posts, ranks 12th behind No. 10 Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder with 48,529 negative posts.

The study was conducted by analyzing keyword associations on Twitter, including negative phrases such as “I hate Aaron Rodgers,” or “Antonio Brown sucks.” More than a million tweets in December were used to come up with the semi-scientific study.

Anyone associated with the NFL was fair game for the study, which explains why Jackson Mahomes and Brittany Matthews wound up in the Top 20 most hated. The brother and fiancée of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes are both very active on social media. Jackson Mahomes ranked sixth on the list with more than 75,000 negative posts on Twitter. Matthews ranked 17th with more than 10,000.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell ranks eighth with almost 60,000 negative posts. Elliott is 19th with fewer than 7,000 negative posts, just ahead of Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

NFL’s Top 20 most hated

(Total negative tweets counted in December)

Aaron Rodgers, 266,850

Antonio Brown, 107,379

Bill Belichick, 88,482

Odell Beckham Jr., 84,399

Deshaun Watson, 75,210

Jackson Mahomes, 71,349

Tyreek Hill, 62,379

Roger Goodell, 59,731

Baker Mayfield, 51,285

Dan Snyder, 48,529

Cam Newton, 28,467

Jerry Jones, 24,602

Kirk Cousins, 19,056

Josh McDaniels, 16,008

DeSean Jackson, 13,598

Jalen Ramsey, 11,278

Brittany Matthews, 10,404

Richard Sherman, 8, 562

Ezekiel Elliott, 6,640

Robert Kraft, 5,362

This story was originally published March 2, 2022 at 4:41 PM.

Stefan Stevenson

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Stefan Stevenson was a sports writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram from 1997 to 2022. He covered TCU athletics, the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Cowboys.