Which states produce the most NFL players?
If you are a fan of college football, then you know where the recruiting hotbeds lie in the sport.
(Photo: Steven Bisig, USA TODAY Sports)
Southern states like Florida and Texas have enough high school prospects to dot rosters of not only the home schools in those states, but also in neighboring states and around the country.
So, it's no real surprise that many of the same states that are fertile ground for finding college prospects are also the same states producing the most NFL players.
In an unofficial census from last season conducted by
besttickets.com – 2015 data won't be compiled until rosters are set for the coming season - the state of California was the leader, producing 224 NFL players. That's not a surprise given that California has the highest population of any state in the nation with nearly 39 million people to pick from.
(Photo: Photo Illustration: Ted Hyman)
You don't have to look far to find star power in the Golden State either, as
Tom Brady,
Aaron Rodgers and
Marshawn Lynch are just three of today's top stars who hail from California.
But the next three NFL-producing states are all true Southern football hotbeds – Florida with 186 players in the NFL, Texans with 147 and Georgia with 91. The big upset here is the fact that more NFL players are from Florida than Texas, even though Texas has a population of around 27 million people, compared to 20 million in the Sunshine State.
Ohio, a traditional Midwest football-mad state, is fifth on the list in terms of NFL players. The Buckeye State had 78 players in the NFL ranks in 2014.
Louisiana, which doesn't have nearly the population of the other states in the top 10 is nonetheless well represented in the NFL with 69 players. The Bayou State boasts a population of around only 4.65 million, yet has the sixth most athletes in the National Football League. Heading that list, of course, are the Manning brothers, Peyton and Eli, who hail from New Orleans.
Coming in seventh is Pennsylvania, another traditionally strong football state with 60 players on pro rosters a season ago.
At No. 8 is another state that does not have great numbers population-wise, but South Carolina is still home to 57 NFL players. The state of South Carolina has around 4.8 million people, but the 57 players on NFL rosters – including 2014 No.1 overall pick
Jadeveon Clowney – makes the Palmetto State the state with the most players not to have an NFL city inside the state's borders.
New Jersey, in a bit of a surprise, is ninth with 51 players, while Virginia and Michigan with 49 players each in the NFL last season, are tied for the 10th spot.
Washington came in second (California) among western states with 22 players in the NFL, which is good for 21st overall.
Some strong per capita states - producing a lot of players without a lot of population - include Mississippi (27 players, 3 million population), Hawaii (11 players 1.4 million population) and Montana (7 players, 1.1 million population).
If you're looking at the end of the spectrum, Vermont was the only state in the union not to have someone on an NFL roster in 2014. Rhode Island, North Dakota and New Hampshire had just one each, while Alaska, Wyoming, Maine, Delaware and surprisingly West Virginia, regarded as a football state, had just two players each on NFL rosters last season.
Of the states that have NFL teams within their borders, Massachusetts produced the least amount of players on pro rosters with 11, followed by Colorado with 13.
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, Durant, Duncan, Kawai, Kyrie ....aren't from the south
outside of Florida most of the TOP 100 players be from Cali,Texas and up north
