Joe Theismann thinks LeBron James might have a future in NFL

By Chuck Schilken

May 28, 2013 12 AM PT

LeBron James’ career in the NBA seems to be going fine. He just won his fourth league MVP and he and the defending champion Miami Heat are just two wins away from their third straight appearance in the NBA Finals.

But that’s not stopping former NFL star/analyst Joe Theismann from coming up with a new career path for James. The onetime league MVP and Super Bowl champ thinks the basketball star could flourish as an NFL quarterback after his hoops days are over.

“He could play another four years in the NBA before seriously trying the NFL,” Theismann told Fox Sports Florida on Saturday. “There are not a lot of 38- or 39-year-old basketball players, but there are 38- and 39-year-old quarterbacks, so there’s always time for him.”

“He’s the most tremendous physical specimen in all of sports,” Theismann added. “I think he’s certainly talented enough. He’s intelligent. He’s like the quarterback on the Miami Heat, but there are so many things [to being an NFL quarterback]. There’s reading defenses. There’s throwing the ball with touch. There’s throwing a spiral in the wind. Maybe his hands are too big. The football is a different shape, and a basketball is obviously a lot bigger than a football.”

Theismann’s remarks came a day after James responded to a reporter’s question about whether he thought he could have been a good quarterback. James, who played quarterback as a freshman in high school then switched to receiver the next two years before giving up football, lobbed a nice longball to set up a Dywane Wade layup in overtime of Game 1 against the Indiana Pacers.

“I think so,” James said. “I have the ability. I can see and read plays. I study a lot, so I know defenses and things of that nature. So I would have been pretty good if I had decided to go for it.”

So if James happens to decide to make the career switch, he apparently already has someone willing to serve as his mentor/agent ... did we mention that Theismann just happens to be between gigs right now?

“I would love to work him out and also serve as his agent,” Theismann said. “I’ll go wherever he wants this summer”

He added: “I need a job.”