

After his magical rookie season, sales of Robert Griffin III’s jersey had nowhere to go but down. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

Coming off a disastrous season that wound up tarnishing the superstar aura of Robert Griffin III, as well as getting Coach Mike Shanahan fired, it would be understandable that Redskins merchandise sales might have dipped. But according to information gathered by ESPN’s Darren Rovell, those sales may have fallen off a cliff.

From Rovell’s report:

No NFL team has seen a sharper drop in year-over-year merchandise sales in the past year than the Redskins. That’s according to data from market tracking firm SportsOneSource. Through August, Redskins sales were down 43.8 percent, the firm’s numbers show, beating out slides from other teams that failed to make the playoffs last year, including the Ravens (34.5 percent), Texans (32.8 percent), Giants (25.5 percent), Vikings (25.1 percent) and Falcons (20.1 percent).

Wow, that’s a steep drop, alright. Enough to make someone wonder if, beyond the struggles of RGIII and the team last season, the controversy over the Redskins’ name was starting to take a toll.

However, in the same report, Rovell adds this somewhat contradictory information:

Data from NFLShop.com, the league’s official store, shows that the Redskins were the 12th most popular team in sales last year and are at the same position this year. And two retailers told ESPN.com that they believe almost the entire slide is due to coming off a 3-13 season and quarterback Robert Griffin III falling out of prominence.

Certainly, Rovell doesn’t think that any slide in Redskins merchandise sales had anything to do with the spotlight on the team’s name (although his story began by posing just that question).

Narrative that Redskins sales are down significantly because of controversy doesn’t hold up. RGIII falling off the map did that. — Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 5, 2014

Even saying that Griffin was “falling off the map” seems a bit strong. After his rookie season, Griffin accounted for the highest-selling jersey in NFL history, so he was destined to slip off that pace. But Rovell asserts that, “From April through August of this year, he didn’t even make the list of the league’s 25 best-selling jerseys.”

That would mean that sales of Griffin jerseys sunk like the Titanic after mid-July, because the NFL Shop’s Web site lists RGIII at No. 17 in jersey sales, based on transactions between April 1 and July 17 of this year. Not surprisingly, although somewhat laughably, the No. 1 spot is held by Johnny Manziel, with Russell Wilson at No. 2.

As an aside, at No. 6 on that list is Michael Sam’s Rams jersey. Given the time period (April 1-July 17), and the fact that Sam was cut by St. Louis and has subsequently joined the Cowboys’ practice squad, it might be safe to assume that sales of that particular piece of merchandise have dropped off sharply.