National Football League

Daddy, where do NFL players come from?

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 4:10 p.m. ET

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SCOUTING REPORT
• There are 2,178 players that currently play in the National Football League. Most reside on one of the 32 franchise rosters. 320 players live on the practice squad. Various other players are on the injured reserve, suspension or fall under another non-playing commissioner’s list.

• The state of California has produced the most players in today’s NFL. They are followed by Florida, Texas, Georgia and then Ohio. These five state’s account for close to 50% of all players currently in the NFL. Southern California is the one area that has produced the most players, followed by South Florida, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, Metro-Atlanta and New Orleans-Baton Rouge.

• On a per capita basis, the south dominates the NFL numbers. Louisiana leads the way, followed by South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and then Florida.

Over the past month I have poured over all 32 NFL rosters, 2,178 players in all, combing through the data of where these players came from, where they played high school football, college ball and how long they have been in the NFL. In addition, I tracked if they were drafted or were undrafted free-agents as they entered the league. In a series of articles to be published over the next few weeks I will breakdown all the NFL rosters.

Here’s a look at part one of where all the NFL players come from.

THE USUAL SUSPECTS BUT...

It’s the usual suspects in terms of the states that have produced the most players currently on NFL rosters. But it may come to surprise some that California earns the top spot with 275 NFL players that played high school football in the Golden State. Florida comes in at No. 2 with 252, followed by Texas (233), Georgia (130) and Ohio (100). Many believe Florida and Texas produce the most NFL players when in fact it has been California.

Where things get a little interesting is seeing what states occupy spots six though ten. Louisiana checks in at No. 6 with 75, followed by New Jersey (73), South Carolina (68), Alabama (65), North Carolina (64) and Pennsylvania (64). Six of the top ten producing states are from the south.

States 12-20 are Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Tennessee, Mississippi, Maryland, New York, Missouri and Wisconsin.

POPULATION & PER CAPITA
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the United States currently has a population of 317 million. The top five states in this exercise, Florida, California, Texas, Georgia and Ohio, have a combined population of 106.22 million, which corresponds to 33.5% of the population. It’s these state’s that have produced 45.5% of players today currently on the NFL rosters.

If you look at where the NFL players are from based on population and per capita numbers the big board looks a little different.

To calculate per capita you must divide the number of NFL players per state by that state's population. Here are those findings and here is where things get interesting.

Louisiana earns the top spot with a per capita score of 16.16. As I wrote back in May when I looked at the NFL Draft numbers and where these prospects were coming from I firmly believe that this number would be higher if it were not for Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Thousands in the Bayou State were displaced and moved to neighboring states like Texas, Mississippi and Alabama. Just the city of New Orleans alone is 29% smaller in population than prior to 2005.

Louisiana has a population of 4.64 million and currently has 75 players in the NFL.

The state of South Carolina has produced the highest number of NFL draft picks [per capita] over the last three years. When you look at the overall roster numbers/per capita the Palmetto State checks in at No. 2 with a score of 14.26. South Carolina’s population is 4.77 million and the state has produced 68 current NFL players.

Alabama (13.54), Mississippi (13.38), Georgia (13.1), and Florida (12.92) make up the next four states in per capita scores of all players in the NFL. Perhaps the most telling stat is that the top six producing per capita states are all from the South.

Rounding out the top 12 on a per capita score basis are Montana (9.9), Texas (8.93), Hawaii (8.71), Ohio (8.62), New Jersey (8.24) and Nebraska (7.53). While Montana, Hawaii and Nebraska are high in the per capita rankings they only have a combined 36 NFL players currently on rosters. That figure would place them tied for 18th in total players in the league by state. It goes to show you how the numbers can drastically change when you look at the per capita breakdown.

Now it's time to get more specific. What areas within these states are these players coming from? For a cpmplete breakdown of the area numbers and per captia figures and county number and per capita figures please click here or go to Scout.