There are few things that the country’s most populous state does better than producing top-flight football talent. California has the second-most NFL players on active rosters (192) and a who’s who of current and future Pro Football Hall of Famers. What it doesn’t have is legal, regulated California sportsbooks.
This year, the Golden State will have one native son, San Francisco 49ers wideout Brandon Aiyuk, playing in Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11. But the fourth-year receiver out of Arizona State will be the latest in a long line of California-born players on the sport’s biggest stage.
The Rocklin native enters Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas having had a career year. The 25-year-old hauled in 75 catches for 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns and had an approximate value (per Pro-Football-Reference.com) of 15 in 16 games.
But have California-born players produced the most Super Bowl touchdowns since the first edition in January 1967? BetCalifornia.com – where you can turn to for coverage of efforts to bring legal, regulated California sports betting apps to the state – looked at Pro-Football-Reference.com for every touchdown that has been scored in Super Bowl – all 314 of them. We broke down the list by the birthplaces of those players to give us this list.
States With Most Super Bowl Touchdowns
California Among Top States For Super Bowl TDs
California-born players have scored 24 touchdowns in the first 57 iterations of the big game. That ranks third overall, behind Florida (37 touchdowns) and Texas (35). The Golden State ranks ahead of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which tied for fourth with 19 TDs each. The Keystone State and the Garden State have robust sports betting and online casino markets; there are no California online casinos.
Among the Californians that have thrived in the Super Bowl over the years are seven-time world champion quarterback Tom Brady. The San Mateo native threw for 3,039 yards and 21 touchdowns (to six interceptions) in 10 career Super Bowls – nine with the New England Patriots and the last with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Throw in fellow Super Bowl champions like Aaron Rodgers (born in Chico) and Bobby Wagner (Los Angeles) — among many others — and you have a snapshot of the gridiron talent that has come from the Golden State over the years. On Feb. 11 in Las Vegas, Aiyuk has a shot at adding to that rich history, as the former first-round draft pick looks to get San Francisco over the hump in his first Super Bowl appearance.
Super Bowl 58 Odds
As of Thursday morning, Aiyuk and the 49ers are listed as a 2-point favorite over the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs on ESPN BET Sportsbook, with a -128 moneyline in favor of the NFC champs (to +108 for the Chiefs).
If Aiyuk and the 49ers can knock off the Chiefs, San Francisco would earn its first Vince Lombardi Trophy since 1994.
