The 'It Girls' Of The Season Are Making NFL Boyfriends Cool Again

In October 2023, model and influencer Alix Earle announced her new 'ship with a simple Instagram caption: "hbd nfl man." In the post, Earle is seen mid-makeout with her football player beau, Braxton Berrios, and since then, the content creator has been seen attending Miami Dolphins games and proudly sporting the team's gear.

Earle isn't the only star to nab an "NFL man." Arguably, the biggest celeb to recently date a football player is Taylor Swift, who started her highly publicized relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce over the summer. Swifties are now tuning into game day, likely cheering on Swift just as much as (if not more than) the actual teams playing. Then there's Brittany and Patrick Mahomes. Patrick may be known as an NFL MVP, serving as a quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, but wife Brittany is a star in her own right. She's a former pro soccer player, a founder of the women's soccer team Kansas City Current, and has a robust following of over 1.5 million fans on Instagram.

If there's one message these "it girls" are sending, it's that jocks are back — and possibly better than ever.

Soft-girl eras, soft ambition, soft hiking — a soft approach to life has gone mainstream, but that doesn't mean soft boys (also spelled "softbois") have a place in our love lives. The soft boy concept has been around for at least a few years, describing men who use their intellect and sensitivity as a front to lure in women. When it comes time to actually define a relationship, though, the stereotypical soft boy lacks the emotional maturity and vulnerability needed to commit.

Awareness about the male archetype likely grew in recent years because, well, the soft boy seems like the perfect match for many feminist, mental health-focused women. You just can't talk about emotional movie plots or what you learned in therapy with a "himbo" or "golden retriever boyfriend" the way you can with a soft boy. But these sensitive guys aren't as gentle as they seem. "Softbois are the covert version of their more obvious toxic counterparts out there in the dating world," trauma therapist and author Shannon Thomas shared with Insider. "At their core, softbois are narcissistic in their belief that people are in their lives to keep them from getting bored."

So what does all this have to do with NFL boyfriends? As more women get burned by soft boys, they may be more open to their antithesis — the beefy gym bro who makes no mention of highbrow novels, shoegaze indie bands, and faux emotionality.

If toxic masculinity had a mascot, it might be a muscly man who's competitive, aggressive, and violent — which, let's be real, sounds a lot like your standard football player on the field, tackling opponents for a point. But the men of the NFL are increasingly modeling healthy masculinity and an authentic sensitivity that the soft boy crowd lacks. Take former football player Terry Crews, who's spoken out against misogyny and toxic masculinity, or Detroit Lions running back Jamaal Williams, who's known to get teary-eyed during interviews. Then there's the slew of players who are disclosing their mental health struggles, going against the masculinity norms that kept so many other NFLers quiet in the past.

Another important feature of today's NFL boyfriends: They aren't afraid to share the spotlight with a woman. Taylor Swift is arguably more famous and influential than Travis Kelce (she's credited for boosting game ticket sales by 175%, per CBS News), but that doesn't stop him from dating her, nor does it minimize his masculinity. Similarly, Braxton Berrios proudly shows off girlfriend Alix Earle, unfazed by the fact that he might be her accessory rather than the other way around.

So perhaps that's what makes the new NFL boyfriend so special: The women who date them are no longer relegated to cheerleader or trophy-wife status. The "it girls" aren't at the games to look cute and be quiet. They're there as half of a power couple, supporting their touchdown-scoring partners who never try to dim their shine.