The NFLPA officially announced the 42 incoming players set to attend their annual Rookie Premiere event in 2025.
The Kansas City Chiefs will send a wide receiver to the NFLPA’s Rookie Premiere event for the fifth consecutive season. Fourth-round draft pick Jalen Royals will join several of his peers from the 2025 NFL Draft at the 2025 NFLPA Rookie Premiere. He follows Xavier Worthy (2024), Rashee Rice (2023), Skyy Moore (2022), Cornell Powell (2021), Clyde Edwards-Helaire (2020), and Mecole Hardman (2019), who were all previous attendees of the annual event.
Royals will be one of just 16 rookie wide receivers to attend this year’s event.
He’ll head to Los Angeles, California, from May 14-17 this year to get a crash course in everything it means to be an NFL player from the business side. The event is a jumping-off point for rookies to learn about marketing, endorsements, passive income, and managing the brand they’ll potentially create for themselves during their time in the league. They’ll get an orientation led by NFLPA union leadership, including a new session on building on their NIL experiences from college.
Royals will participate in events with several NFL content partners, such as Panini America, EA Sports, Fanatics, Fanatics Collectibles, NFL Social Lab, New Era, and Microsoft, to capture custom content for upcoming brand campaigns. Stuff like the video below, for instance.
He’ll also have opportunities to meet with brand partners such as Nike, Sony, Oakley, WHOOP, Lululemon, Pro Standard, Highland Mint, Funko, FedEx, On The Mark, Gatorade, Gillette, Shiftwave, EXOS, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, and Jersey Mike’s to get one-on-one hands-on experience in the space.
“NFLPA Rookie Premiere gives our partners a rare chance to meet the next generation of stars not just through the draft buzz, but through real conversations and real connections,” NFL Players Inc. President Matt Curtin said, via press release. “Over the weekend, you see who these rookies really are – their energy, their personality, their drive – and it sparks ideas for how to build with them. This class already understands the power of their personal brand, and Rookie Premiere helps turn that into lasting business relationships.”
The NFLPA chooses the rookies who participate in this event based on position, draft status, college performance, and projected marketability. You’ll notice that the vast majority of players set to attend are quarterbacks or offensive skill positions. Only three defensive players, Giants DE Abdul Carter, 49ers DE Mykel Williams, and Jaguars DB/WR Travis Hunter, have been invited to attend the event. No offensive linemen or interior defensive linemen will attend this year.
While attending this event has no actual correlation to performance on the gridiron, it bodes well for Royals that each of the Chiefs’ past two attendees put up strong rookie campaigns.
