American Football (the NFL) always arouses certain adjectives to mind: braun, finesse, speed, perseverance... fashion? For what seems like a recent phenomenon we now have many of the sports fiercest athletes strutting their stuff for some of the finest fashion magazines and advertisements. Whether it's Tom Brady and his Ugg endorsement, or Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow on the cover of GQ, athletes seem to be self-imposing horizontal integration amongst their own brands all the time now.
More recently former New England Patriot Bret Lockett, who is currently building himself back up from injury, has been using this down time wisely and lending his Adonis-like physique to the covers of InTouch and Krave and most recently posed nude for a fashion-esque campaign for PETA. What makes football players desirable fashion models is they are already built to support more tapered looks of clothes, as well has having the chiseled v-shaped exterior necessary for certain brands. While most fashion models are often slender to support tighter more petit fitting sample sizes, football athlete are capable of showing a different kind of consumer base that there are plenty of ways to be fashionable without having a size 26 waist.
Another reason for the fashion outbreak in the NFL might have something to do with the league strongly "recommending" athletes to wear a suit and tie before and after a game. Now that protocol is shifting to clearly represent football as a business as much as a sport, it might explain the rise in demand for athletes to represent a fashion designers dapper suit or vest combination.
Some fans of the sport strongly dislike seeing their gridiron hero cracking a smile and dressing up (or down) for a photo-shoot, but I think there is a lot to be learned from the ability to see these athlete's as the multi-faceted people that they are. Everyone has more than one identity and it's healthy for the population to see that. When it comes to sports, such as American football, it's all about connecting the dots!