A leading US National Football League player has died a day after being shot at his home in Miami during an apparent burglary, media reports said Tuesday.

Sean Taylor, 24, who played for Washington Redskins, was shot in the leg by an intruder.

He was airlifted to Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital but died Tuesday. The player had suffered heavy blood loss from a severed femoral artery, a large artery in the muscles of the thigh.

"It's a tremendously sad and unnecessary event. He was a wonderful, humble, talented young man, and had a huge life in front of him," Richard Sharpstein, the player's former lawyer, was quoted as saying.

Taylor's girlfriend and his 18-month-old daughter Jackie were in the house at the time of the shooting but were not injured.

Miami police said they were investigating the circumstances behind the shooting and reports that an intruder had been reported at Taylor's home eight days earlier.