Ten-Point Stance: Mike Freeman's NFL Notebook Heading into Week 8

   After reading that tweet from LeBron James, and this article from Bleacher Report's Ethan Grant, I decided to ask three NFL scouts their opinion on James as an NFL prospect. The scouts have decades of experience projecting NFL players. The answers, well, surprised me.

My question was simple: How would James fare in the NFL? Not from five years ago, but now. How would he do right now?

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Scout One: "I really believe that in a matter of a few months, after some serious practice and contact, he'd be the best non-quarterback player in football. He'd play tight end, and he'd be better than [Rob Gronkowski] or any other tight end. He'd be better than Megatron. LeBron James would dominate the NFL."

I thought: Wait, what? James could come into the NFL and after a month of practices dominate the hardest sport in the world? Thought my scout friend had one too many margaritas. Then came the following from a second NFL scout.

Scout Two: "My question would be, what would happen once the hitting started? I also don't think he'd be able to block, which would be a liability to some degree—but there have been great tight ends who couldn't block. In today's game, blocking by the tight end isn't as huge a deal as it once was.

"He'd be an impossible matchup. He'd draw a pass inference penalty every play. You couldn't cover him with one guy. The Megatron comparison is a good one. Megaton is what [6'5"], and LeBron is [6'8"] and can run probably faster. He's young, still (28). He'd be in that Megatron mold, only bigger, stronger, faster. Think about a [receiver] that would be better than Megatron, better than [Gronkowski]. A lot better. That would be LeBron."

Oh. Snap.

The third scout had a different take: "He wouldn't be able to take the physical abuse. A guy that tall crossing the middle of the field would get killed. I don't think he would last a single game."

Then the scout made an interesting point.

"He would be a huge target, because every player would want to knock the piss out of LeBron James."

There is some middle ground here.

James' physical gifts would make him one of the more unique players in NFL history. Yet it is also true that James' body would be shell-shocked by the violence of professional football. He's not posting up Kevin Garnett. He'd be going up against some of the most vicious athletes in all of sports. His frame just isn't ready for that type of punishment.

But if James were ever serious and ended up spending an entire training camp with a team, he'd be formidable. He'd be beyond formidable. He'd be Jim Brown formidable. That's how good he could be.

 

2. A nasty day in the NFL

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This story from ESPN's Jason Wilde details the frightening moments in the immediate aftermath of Green Bay tight end Jermichael Finley's violent collision. It was a collision that left some of Finley's teammates wondering if he'd walk again.

Said teammate Andrew Quarless:

 He couldn't move at the time. So I just told him, "Just stay here, just lay here, don’t move." That look he had in his eyes, that was something that stuck with me. It really hurt me just to see him like that. My brother was out there on the ground.

I was the first one there, I tried to help him up, and he just couldn't get up. That was tough to see, for me to see my brother out there on the ground and I couldn't do anything about it.