re: Who were the players that were the “new breed of athlete” for each sport?

For football, I think it's Vick. Maybe Randall Cunningham if you go before him.

For basketball and soccer, the answer isn't nearly as exciting, when you push it to its extremes.

For soccer, Messi showed that you can be one of the smallest guys in the league and still be the focal point of an elite team. But Xavi showed you can be a small guy and not even a great athlete and still be the second in command of an elite team. It's certainly changed the types of guys who big teams went after for a while. Liverpool (and Manchester City before that) have brought it back to the elite athletes overpowering the highly skilled ones though.

Manuel Neuer also revolutionized the goalkeeper position by playing so high up the field.

The final part of the revolution is having defenders who aren't great defenders but just have elite abilities at playing the ball out of the back to the attacking players. It isn't all that fun to watch or impressive, but it's the soccer equivalent of shooting threes or dunking and ignoring mid-range shots and baseball players trying to hit a home run or walk every at bat.

For basketball, I can't say it's LeBron as there is basically no one in the world with his size and skill. The new breed of athlete is probably based off Chris Bosh or something. Tall guys who can shoot and run the court.