Could LeBron James Play Tight End in the NFL – Part 1

LeBron James is the present and the future of the NBA. A 6ft 8in freak of nature, he’s a small forward who can bring the ball up the floor like a point guard, or bang bodies down low with the power forwards and centres. At only 28 years of age, he’s only just reaching his peak, and he already has a championship ring and 20,000 points.

When it comes to basketball, “King James” can do it all. But how would he fare if he turned his hand to football? Would he have the size, resilience and skillset to suit it up with the giants of the NFL?

Let’s look first at size. The NFL is unusual for a sports league in that its players fit into quite narrow bands of height and weight by position. Take these five quarterbacks, who would generally be reckoned to be among the best of the recent NFL season:

• Tom Brady: 6ft 4in, 225 lb
• Peyton Manning: 6ft 5 in, 230 lb
• Aaron Rodgers: 6ft 2in, 225 lb
• Matt Ryan: 6ft 4 in, 217 lb
• Eli Manning: 6ft 4 in, 218 lb

There are occasional “outliers”: Drew Brees and Russell Wilson are under 6ft. But even the “giant” Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger is “only” 6ft 5in and 250 lb.

The position that would be the best fit for LeBron would probably be tight end. He’s not heavy enough to play offensive tackle, too heavy for wide receiver and too tall to play anywhere else. At 6ft 8 in and 250 lb, how does his body fit with the top tight ends of recent years?

Here are the body types of the top tight ends (by receiving yards) of the 2012-2013 season:

• Jason Witten: 6ft 6in, 260 lb
• Jimmy Graham: 6ft 7in, 265 lb
• Tony Gonzales: 6ft 5in, 247lb
• Greg Olsen: 6ft 5 in, 255 lb
• Heath Miller: 6ft 5in, 256 lb

It’s pretty clear from this list that LeBron possesses prototypical height and weight for a starting NFL tight end. If anything, he has a better body shape than any of the tight ends listed above. LeBron’s height (6ft 8in) would make him almost unstoppable in the red zone. All the quarterback would have to do would be throw up “jump balls” and have LeBron go and get them.

It would be useless to put a cornerback to cover him at 6ft 8in. The consensus best two “cover” cornerbacks of the last decade simply wouldn’t have the height to contest jump balls with LeBron:

• Nnamdi Asomugha: 6ft 2in, 210 lb
• Darrelle Revis: 5ft 11, 190 lb

Revis in particular would struggle. With 9 inches and 60 lbs on the cornerback, LeBron would be able to shrug off “jams” at the line of scrimmage and catch anything head height or above.

Nor would it be any use defending him with a linebacker. A linebacker with the physical presence to counter LeBron’s size wouldn’t be able to stay with him for speed. In terms of raw physical size, LeBron James would be basically uncoverable as an NFL tight end.

In Part 2 I’ll look at whether LeBron would have the physical resilience to cope with an NFL season.