(Image Source: Yahoo! Sports)
BY MATT NOONAN
What if LeBron James had decided to play professional football instead of professional basketball? A 2008 State Farm commercial tried to answer that question – putting James in a helmet and pads as a player for the Cleveland Browns. But now with an NBA lockout in full effect, the Miami Heat star has apparently considered taking his talents to the gridiron.
On his twitter account, James asked ESPN's NFL analyst Jon Clayton: “When is the deadline for a team to sign a free agent?”
The answer? There is no deadline. OK-so talk is one thing, but would LeBron actually do it? USA Today blogger Michael McCarthy says with King James, you never know:
“He'd have to be nuts to risk his career by getting injured on an NFL football field... But the NBA lockout shows no sign of ending. The players are clearly getting restless. And hey, LeBron would look good in a Miami Dolphins jersey.”
NBA players may be getting restless, but Bleacher Report correspondent Pat Dean says don’t expect to witness James catching the pigskin anytime soon:
“The aspect that is lost in the excitement... is that [James] has not played competitive football for over a decade, not to mention how difficult it is for NFL players to learn the playbook. While the fan in me would like to see LeBron play a few NFL games, the sports mind says differently.”
But that hasn't stopped fans from wondering what kind of football player James would be. ESPN's Todd McShay weighs in:
“First of all you'd have to figure out what position he's going to play. Obviously with his size, the first place I would look would be kind of a Tight End, H-Back hybrid – someone you can split out and create some mismatches... It seems like an awful awful big long shot to me at this point, but I do think he would get several looks if he decided he wanted to play football for a season.”
That begs the question: which team would LeBron suit up with? Yahoo! Sports columnist Chris Chase has a suggestion:
“Dallas Cowboys quarterback -- If anyone can make the criticism of Tony Romo pale in comparison, it's LeBron. Can you imagine how amazing those fourth quarters would be? The Cowboys could feasibly blow a 42-point lead... Plus, nobody loves a front-runner like Mr. James.”
“All hype, creating a story where there isn't one, over-exposed to the point where every meaningless comment on Twitter is blown up in bold letters... no athlete personifies why the current media landscape is so insufferable quite like LeBron James.”
Transcript By Newsy.
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