LeBron James hasn’t played football since he was in high school. However, he came close to playing in the NFL nearly 10 years ago despite being in the prime of his NBA career. James appeared on the Monday Night Football broadcast with Peyton Manning and Eli Manning on ESPN 2 and talked about how two NFL teams – the Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks – offered him contracts to play football.ย
“I definitely thought about it,” James said, per CBS Sports. “I still got the jersey they sent me … I wanted to be a red-zone specialist, like Gronk.”ย James recently said he had tryout offers from the Cowboys and Seahawks but didn’t confirm if contract offers were on the table. This happened during the NBA lockout which delayed the 2011-12 season. Earlier this year, James said he would have been on the roster for the Cowboys and Seahawks if he pursued the NFL.ย
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“I would have made the team,” he said. “I would have tried out, but I would have made the team. One thing about it, I don’t mind working for something, so if I would have had to try out for the Cowboys or the Seahawks, or if I’d have stayed home and went back home to Cleveland, I’d have tried (out), but I would have made the team. I just know what I’m capable of doing on the football field. Especially at that age.” ย
James is known for being a standout basketball player at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Ohio, but the four-time NBA Champion also knew how to make plays on the football field. He was an all-state player at wide receiver and was recruited to play football at Division I schools such as Norte Dame and Ohio State. But James decided to focus on basketball, which turned out to be a good move.ย
James has been in NBA since 2003 and is considered by some as the greatest of all time. Along with winning four NBA titles with three different teams, James is a four-time winner of the NBA Finals MVP and NBA MVP award. He was been selected to every All-Star game since 2005 and is a three-time winner of the NBA All-Star Game MVP. James is also a three-time Olympic medalist, winning two gold medals and one bronze.ย
