Which states produce the most NFL talent? That actually depends on the metrics you look. How you come to the answer will actually dictate your answer...and what I mean is, how do you decide someone is from a state? Do you decide that the city on their birth certificate is the answer? What if that person was born in a state, but moves before their first birthday and grows up in a totally different state? Do you look at where a player played their high school football to decide what state they're from? Well, what if someone moved states for just their senior year of high school?

Honestly, the best way to do this is to look at the city of birth for players. I know that won't work in a lot of cases, but its the fairest way with all of the other variables between school transfers and where they reside at the present time.

Scott Cunningham/Getty Images
Scott Cunningham/Getty Images
loading...

When you look at the data from Pro Football Reference based on the birthplaces of NFL players, the state of Louisiana makes a pretty good case for itself. The state of Louisiana is listed as having 72 players in the league during the 2023 season. Which is impressive for a state that is ranked 25th in the nation for population. By comparison, states that are in the top 10 in population have fewer players listed. Like North Carolina and Illinois, who both have just 62 players listed on Pro Football Reference.

But lets look behind just players in the NFL, lets look at some high value NFL Draft Picks. This is another place that Louisiana flourishes when it comes to pro football. In fact, Louisiana has THREE players who have gone #1 overall in the NFL Draft before.

Check out the list of the Top 20 NFL Draft Picks from Louisiana here:

LEGENDS: These Are the Highest NFL Draft Picks From Louisiana

Stacker compiled a list of the highest drafted NFL players born in Louisiana since 1970 using data from Pro Football Reference.

Gallery Credit: Stacker

More From 1130 The Tiger