There’s perhaps no greater sign of the Washington Commanders’ makeover than the Dick’s Sporting Goods outpost near the team’s Northern Virginia headquarters. Six display racks along the center aisle of the store brim with Commanders merchandise, including dozens of Jayden Daniel’s No. 5 jerseys, licensed hoodies and a “Hail Jayden” T-shirt commemorating his Hail Mary touchdown pass.
Business is booming again for Washington’s NFL Franchise
“At this point, if you’re a young Commanders fan and you don’t have a piece of Jayden merch, what are you even doing?” Jamie Mottram, president of sports apparel company BreakingT, said jokingly. “This season, Jayden is by far our number-one-selling NFL player.”
Known for its unique designs that play on iconic moments, BreakingT is responsible for the “I Survived the Snyder Era” shirt, about which former coach Jay Gruden joked on social media, “Glad someone did!” After Daniel’s Hail Mary touchdown pass to Noah Brown, BreakingT created three new shirts in 24 hours – one with a diagram of the play, another with “Hail Noah” in gold lettering above an image of Brown and the other with “Hail Jayden,” which hangs from one of those racks at Dick’s Sporting Goods.
“Washington hasn’t been timely or relevant for positive reasons in a long time,” Mottram said. “So now that they are, when you walk into Dick’s, you will see that presence.”
