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Los Angeles Lakers superstar and NBA legend LeBron James on Wednesday gave a glimpse of what his game might have looked like if he had decided to pursue a football career in the NFL.
During a performance at New heights podcast (starts at 7:57) with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, James was asked to compare his game to former NFL players, expressing his belief that he would have been a “mix between” Rob Gronkowski, Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson .
James also mentioned legendary Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez, noting that he was a high school and college basketball star before becoming one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history.
Moss and Johnson are two of the all-time great wide receivers, while Gronk is firmly in the discussion with Gonzalez as the greatest tight end to ever play in the NFL.
Listed at 6’9″ and 250 pounds, James is closest in size to Gronk, who played at 6’6″ 265 pounds. Johnson wasn’t that far off though, at 6’5″ and 237 pounds.
Moss had the ideal height of 6’4″, but he was much smaller than Gronk and Megatron at 210 pounds, and LeBron admitted that Moss had him beat in the speed department.
Gronkowski is third in NFL history in receiving touchdowns among tight ends, Moss is fourth among all players in receiving yardage and second in touchdown catches, and Johnson is nowhere near the top of any charts because of his short career, but he still managed 11,619 yards and 83 touchdowns in just nine seasons.
Because of his size, strength, speed and athleticism, it has long been speculated by fans how well James would have fared if he ever stepped on an NFL gridiron.
A longtime and avid Ohio State football fan, the 40-year-old James told the Kelce brothers that playing in the NFL is something he has often dreamed about over the years, but only seriously considered doing once.
LeBron pointed to 2011 as the only time he was “serious” about potentially dipping his toe in the NFL water because it was in the middle of the NBA lockout, which lasted 161 days from July 2011 to December 2011.
Due to the length of the lockout, NBA teams’ game schedules were reduced from 82 games to 66 that season, but everything worked out in James’ favor, as he won the first NBA championship of his illustrious career and led the Miami Heat past the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals.
LeBron in the NFL will perhaps go down as one of the biggest “what-ifs” in professional sports history, but considering he established himself as one of the greatest basketball players of all time with four titles, four NBA MVP awards, and four NBA Finals MVP honors, plus the all-time scoring record, there seems to be a good chance to have excelled as a football player as well.
