Time to change my MC's name?

Well, since you're not married to the name and it's in the news just as you're ready to query, I would suggest changing it. It will only take a few seconds with find-and-replace--and if the real guy drops from sight in the next couple of weeks, you can always change it back if you want to.

I suggest changing it. It'll save you a few possible snags later on.

I haven't even named my MC yet, and I'm almost done with my first draft.

If it were a common name I wouldn't worry, but since you say it's uncommon I'd change it.

Honestly, if it were me I would change it.
It's not a big deal and just a matter of preference but I think if you want to make something stick, the name should be instantly recognizable as that character you created for readers, not "Hey, does he have the same name as such and such?"

What's the name? I don't see how some obscure football player's name is a big deal if it's the same as your MC's name. These are two completely separate areas in life, unless your book is about a football player or something.

Can I suggest some names for you?

Thrash Killman
Michael Michael
Climacus Du Frejeau
Runs-with-a-fork
Tai Mai Shu
Jupp Krakenwinden

Feel free to use any of those.

You don't have to change the whole name I suppose, just first or last. Even if he doesn't make the cut or whatever, some of those search results will still hang around for years to come. (The internet never forgets.)

I had this happen once. I was on the eve of querying a novel when I read the blurb of a new book in my own (small, niche) genre which had a lead character with the same name as one of my leads. My head just about exploded.

If it had been some random book in another genre I wouldn't have been bothered. But it was a bit too close for comfort. So I bit the bullet and changed the character's last name. I couldn't have changed the first name at that point without giving myself considerable pain.

Since the character was someone who would have used false names in the past, then in my mind his real name is the original one and the new name is just his latest false identity.

If it worries you enough to start a thread re. this, change the name.

I'm changing my protagonist's name, and for a different reason. When I started writing this book, I had a sort of George RR Martin approach--odd spellings of real world names with a few made up ones tossed in. It was a very common approach in fantasy back in the 80s and 90s. But since, I've discovered that this is a huge pet peeve for many readers of secondary fantasy (mixing of made up and real world names), so I have been morphing my real world names into made up ones that keep the same cultural or linguistic feel I was shooting for (and googling to make sure said name is not already tagged onto a famous fantasy character, or perhaps the word for something offensive in another language).

I know people who have had agents or editors suggest name changes for characters or places in their novels too, whether to avoid confusion, or to make them feel more like they belonged together re worldbuilding.

Conventions change, even within a genre, and we don't all get the same naming license as a writer like GRRM

If I were writing a real world novel, I'd probably avoid any names that sounded too much like real world celebrities. Problem is, celebrity can be a local thing. A British friend of mine says the name "Jon Snow" in ASoIaF is very distracting to him, because a local newsman or something has that same name.

Sometimes names will just overlap with real people, though. Back when I read Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars books, and one of my co-workers had the exact same name as one of the characters. Moreover, he looked similar to the description of said character, and had a similar outgoing, charismatic manner, so I always imagined that character (in the book) as looking and talking just like my coworker. We had a good laugh when I showed up work one day and said, "Sorry, John, you just died." (KSR was not at all adverse to killing off protagonists).

I think you should change your characters name to Keanu Reeves.