With Tom Brady retired, who is the biggest celebrity athlete in Florida? Here's our Top 5
There was a time when the state of Florida wash flush with sports stars.
From 2020-22, Tom Brady stewarded the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
From 2010-14, the Miami Heat boasted LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Shaquille O’Neal had two different stints in the state, once with the Orlando Magic, and once with the Miami Heat.
Other big names from the past include Dan Marino, Tim Tebow, Tiger Woods and on and on and on.
Yet when you look around the state right now, there aren’t too many active sports stars the way there used to be.
Here’s a list of who might be the biggest sporting names in the state of Florida that actively and regularly participate in a team or individual sport.
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Outside looking in
Three names didn’t make the Top 5, but each came close based on their current place in sports. They include pro golfer Brooks Koepka, FSU quarterback Jordan Travis and Florida Marlins infielder Jazz Chisholm.
Now, onto the Top 5.
5. Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins
Tua has been in the spotlight since his time at Alabama. At one point, the slogan “Tank for Tua” was all the rage in South Florida as the Miami Dolphins coveted getting the electric quarterback. However, a devastating hip injury suffered his final year at Bama in 2019 ruined Tua’s chance of being the No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick. He fell to No. 5, where the Dolphins still were able to get him in 2020.
In his time since, he’s been a lightning rod of conversation. Following a scary concussion in 2022, questions surrounded his future in NFL. He’s back in 2023, looks healthy and it’s been said his new learned skill of jiu-jitsu will help him fall more gracefully, potentially staving off more concussions. If he can stay healthy, good things will happen for the Dolphins. When he started in 2022, he was 5-2. Overall, he’s 21-13 in his 34 NFL starts.
4. Tyreek Hill, Miami Dolphins
Hill was amazing in his first year for the Dolphins in 2022, hauling in a career-best 1,710 yards with seven touchdowns. Prior to that, in his six years with the Kansas City Chiefs, he collected 6,630 yards and 56 touchdowns and a super Bowl ring. When Hill left the Chiefs for the Dolphins, he signed a four-year, $120 million extension which included $72.2 million guaranteed, making him the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL.
Earlier this year, the former high school sprinting star took to the track and beat several people in his age group in the 60-yard dash at the USA Track and Field Masters Indoor Championships. It should be noted one participant wore jeans.
3. Jimmy Butler, Miami Heat
When Butler joined the Heat in 2019, the general consensus was the Heat could not win a title with him as their main star. Granted, the Heat haven’t won a title with Butler, but he has led the team to the NBA Finals twice. The myth around “playoff Jimmy” grew in 2023 with some amazing performances throughout the postseason. He just didn’t quite have enough to overcome Nikola Jokic.
If being an NBA star making roughly $48 million a year wasn’t enough, he's also been romantically linked to Shakira over the past few months. Not a bad life.
2. Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars
Lawrence has been in the public spotlight since 2018, when he seized the Clemson starting QB job as a freshmen and led the Tigers to a national championship. The following year he led Clemson back to the championship game, but they ultimately fell to LSU.
Lawrence was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, and in 2022 he took the long-struggling Jaguars to the playoffs, where they won a first-round game before bowing out to the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. With his 6-foot-6 frame and his long flowing blond hair, he also shows up in many commercials, particularly for adidas and Gatorade.
1. Lionel Messi, Inter Miami CF
It’s strange to see a soccer player top a list such as this, but when Messi arrived less than a month ago, he immediately became the most famous active athlete in the state of Florida. After leading Argentina to a World Cup title in 2022, Messi could have gone anywhere in the world to play, yet he shunned ridiculous amounts of money to come to Miami.
After all, when your net worth is already $600 million, you can do whatever you want. At 5-foot-7, you’d never know he’s the best in the world to look at him. But watching him play, it’s apparent he’s a unicorn among unique specimens. The second he set foot in Miami, he became the most famous active athlete in the state of Florida.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Florida's top 5 most famous sports stars with Messi at Inter Miami
