Photo Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

LeBron James Trained To Be An NFL Player During The 2011 NBA Lockout

As we know, LeBron James was a great high school football player, good enough to be an All-State player in his sophomore year. He even got recruited by Urban Meyer, who at that time, was the wide receivers coach at Notre Dame.

“I think it would work out well. You look at him. He’s physical. Unbelievable. Look at the range. There’s nobody that can cover him. There’s no way you can cover him. Fast, physical. We’ll give it a shot.”

It turns out that years later, during the 2011 NBA lockout LeBron James actually trained to be an NFL player, not knowing how long the lockout would last. That’s what James revealed during an appearance on ESPN’s ‘Uninterrupted’. Apparently, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones even had a contract ready for LeBron to sign:

“I had no idea how long the lockout was gonna be, and myself and my trainer we really started to actually train to be a football player when it came to like October and November. We started to clock our times with the 40s. We started to add a little bit more in our bench presses and things of that nature….”

LeBron started training to be a football player during the NBA lockout in 2011 and Mav Carter said Jerry Jones even sent LeBron a contract.

(via @uninterrupted) pic.twitter.com/Yq4MJ3Zwp7

— ESPN (@espn) May 19, 2020

To be honest, LeBron to the NFL? It’s interesting to think about it. Could he dominate on the field as much as he dominates on the court? Back in 2013, LeBron said he wants to play in one NFL game before it’s over, so maybe we will find out one day.

"@TylerC_2: @KingJames would you ever consider playing in one pro football game? In any league?"(I wanna play one NFL game before it's over)

— LeBron James (@KingJames) October 19, 2013