26
May
2009
How would Lebron James do in the NFL? Randy Moss says better than Antonio Gates
State Farm has been running a commercial for a little while now that features Lebron James in a dream sequence where he signs with the Cleveland Browns and becomes a star in the NFL.
According to Randy Moss, that dream might not be far off from reality. Moss said in an interview with ESPN that he believes Lebron is one of those rare athletes who could succeed as a 2-sport athlete, and could even do better than Antonio Gates – who played basketball in college – in the NFL:
“I see his power and his explosion,” Moss said. “It really translates to the football field. Basketball was my first love. I just chose football because I was able to excel at that a little bit quicker than basketball.
“But looking at him and evaluating his skills and things like that, I don’t think it’d be a problem for him to make the transition from basketball to football.
“I believe that he could be a star in this game.”
Moss might not be too far off. James was an all-state receiver as a sophomore and junior at St. Vincent-St. Mary High in Akron, OH. He quit football as a senior to focus on basketball, and clearly, that has turned out pretty well for James. But he has said that he still misses the game of football “every day”. And at 6’8″, and with his freakish combination of size, speed and athleticism, it’s not hard to imagine James beating smaller DBs off the line, and out-reaching them for jump balls in the endzone.
So while everyone is focused on the NBA Playoffs, and hoping for a Lebron vs. Kobe showdown in the finals, it isn’t too much of a pipe dream to envision a future with James lining up against Troy Palomalu, and wondering who would get the better of that match-up.
After the jump, the director’s cut of the “Lebron-as-a-Brown’ State Farm commercial.
