Michael Jordan drew praise throughout his NBA career for his dominance on the court. He is viewed as one of the greatest players of all time, especially after leading the Chicago Bulls to six championships. What many fans don’t realize, however, is that he also had an arm that was better than some NFL quarterbacks.
Sunday afternoon, footage surfaced on social media of Jordan showing off his strength ahead of the documentary series, The Last Dance, premiering on ESPN. The video was filmed for NBA Inside Stuff during his time with the Bulls when he was nursing an injured wrist. Despite dealing with this issue, the NBA star said that he could throw the football 65 yards and said that they could “mark it off.” He then proceeded to plant his feet and launch the ball to someone waiting among the trees.
Videos by PopCulture.com
That time MJ launched a football 65 yards just to prove he could.
(of course he stuck the tongue out too)pic.twitter.com/2I5hKtBbiZ
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) April 19, 2020
Several NFL quarterbacks have drawn attention for their arm strength, including Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes and Matthew Stafford. These are the players that have the ability to launch the football 70-plus yards while on the run. Others, however, have not found as much success. Tim Tebow, Chad Pennington and Christian Ponder are all former signal-callers that drew attention for having “weaker arms” than many of their peers.
While Jordan may not have rivaled Mahomes’ ability to launch a football downfield, he did impress with his arm strength. This was proven with his toss that traveled 65 yards. The fans were impressed overall despite a few joking about Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite having a better arm.
With ESPN’s 10-part documentary series premiering on Sunday night, fans of the NBA are caught up in Jordan mania. They are reminiscing about big moments from his career, his brief time in Minor League Baseball, and the battles that he had with Kobe Bryant and other superstars. The obvious result of this hype is that more highlight videos are surfacing on social media.
The Last Dance followed the Bulls and Jordan during his final season in the NBA (1997-98). He was part of a team that featured Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippen and Steve Kerr. This roster finished 62-20 and secured first place in the NBA’s Central Division. They went on and defeated the Utah Jazz during the NBA Finals to secure the sixth championship of Jordan’s illustrious career.
