It’s time to talk about it again.
When the NBA was locked out for months in 2011, NBA was a superstar Lebron James Get try offers for NFL clubs. His favorite team as a kid, the Dallas Cowboys, offered him a shot, and the Seattle Seahawks sent him a jersey with his name on it in hopes of getting a King’s appearance.
James is no stranger to football. He played as a wide receiver in high school and earned first-team All-State honors in his sophomore season. He was even recruited by FBS schools.
And if James had stayed with football, Skip Bayless believes he could have made it to the NFL by using his 6ft 9 frame as an advantage in a certain area.
“I still think – even more than [Shannon Sharpe] does — that LeBron could have been at least as good a pass-catcher, not a blocker, but a pass-catcher tight end as Jimmy Graham,” Bayless said on his podcast, The Skip Bayless Show. “Talk about a red-zone target, LeBron James at 6-ft-9, 270 [pounds]. In his prime, LeBron could fly flat out. … He can do Sky too. As well as a red zone target, if he could avoid extreme physicality, LeBron would have been lethal in my opinion.”
Aside from his obvious pass-catcher ability, however, Bayless believes James would have done even better in a more unconventional position.
“LeBron James, if he made that choice, a left tackle could have been in the Hall of Fame. Obviously it’s not a glamor position, but we’re talking 6-foot-9 and great feet. He’d have to put on, I don’t know, 20 to 30 pounds? No edge rusher could have ever got around him. I think at 6-foot-9 – he loves the weight room – I don’t think he could have bull-rushed through too many edge-rushers. I just think he would be a wall to himself at left tackle. He would have become a Hall of Famer.
In 2021, The Athletic’s James Bill Oram and Christopher Kamrani admitted when asked about playing football: “I always think about it.” He’s quite confident about how well he would have done it.
“I would have made the team,” James said The Athletic. “I would have tried, but I would have made the team. One thing about it, I don’t mind working for anything, so if I had to try for the Cowboys or the Seahawks or if I had stayed home and gone back to Cleveland, I would have tried (off ), but I would have made the team. I just know what I’m capable of on the football field. Especially at this age.
James, who was 26 during the 2011 NBA lockout, told Peyton and Eli Manning during a 2021 Manningcast that he’s “definitely thought about the offers” he’s received from the Cowboys and Seahawks. He even kept the jerseys that both teams gave him.
Now at 37, James probably won’t be chasing an old football dream even if he doesn’t sign extra time with the lakers.
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