Why are so many NFL players from Texas?

Texas is the second largest state by population, so it's likely there would be a lot of NFL players from the state even if high school football wasn't such a big deal. It's also not surprising that California, the largest state, yields the most. At the beginning of the 2013 season, 225 NFL players were from California; Texas was third with 184 after Florida's 186. 

Texas doesn't even hold the lead in NFL players per capita.

Based on research of 2013 Week 1 rosters, NFL players hail from 1,370 high schools in 48 states and the District of Columbia, six countries and one U.S. territory (American Samoa). The only states not represented were North Dakota and Vermont.

Perhaps most noteworthy, the states with the most players per capita are: Louisiana (1 NFL player per 73,119 people), South Carolina (1 per 85,655), Mississippi (1 per 92,728), Alabama (1 per 99,578), Florida (1 per 101,082), Georgia (1 per 101,975) and Montana (1 per 109,935).



So Texas really doesn't have an unusual number of NFL players given the size of the state. What you are probably noticing is the amazing number of starting NFL quarterbacks from Texas. And there's a reason for this. It's not just that Texas loves football; it's the particular brand of  youth football played in the Lone Star State.

Sports Illustrated ran an article in September about this phenomenon and how the brand of football played in Texas produces the "new breed of mobile QB" with "comfort working out of the shotgun, an ability to improvise and total confidence that they can make the big play even after a mistake—all virtues that they developed playing high school football in Texas, a hypercompetitive world that is increasingly leaving its mark on the NFL."

At times Sunday's game [between the Lions and Redskins, both with QBs from Texas] looked quite a bit like seven-on-seven (an organized brand of touch football that is growing in popularity in Texas), with the Lions deploying four-receiver sets on nearly half their passing plays and with Griffin operating out of shotgun, rolling right to work the sideline.

The fact is, NFL Sundays have more of a Texas feel than ever before. Last weekend alone Andrew Luck's Colts staged a wild upset over the 49ers, Andy Dalton led the Bengals back from down 16 to shock the Packers, Ryan Tannehill threw a last-minute game-winner for the Dolphins against the Falcons, and Drew Brees dismantled the Cardinals in a Saints victory—winning QBs with Lone Star pedigrees.

All told, seven Texas-bred passers started in Week 3—a whopping 21.9% of the league's QB1s—and eight more held clipboards. In 2011 alone, three of the top eight picks—Luck (No. 1, from Stratford High), Griffin (No. 2, Copperas Cove) and Tannehill (No. 8, Big Spring)—played high school and seven-on-seven football in Texas. And on Sundays we're witnessing the finished product.