Would Shaq be a good football player?

[BillyMadison]

Think of the possibilities of him being a redzone TE... Offensive Tackle? DT?

Wow... If Shaq played football in H.S. instead of Basketball... I think he'd be pretty good.

[Bee]

He's too slow and his knees wouldn't hold up for a single game.

[tucker342]

That's a good question... Think about him as a fullback, ouch:D

[BillyMadison]

No way... he is atheletic. Just stick him in the endzone and tell him to put his hands up.

[sabotai]

It's hard to judge. He's spent his whole life training for basketball. If he trained for football, he might have made it. Or he might have just been another clumsy big guy in a long list of big guys who sucked. Training for football and training for basketball differ enough that making a judgement call would be pure guessing.

[illinifan999]

I don't think he would be good. Just cause your big doesnt mean you can play.

[sabotai]

dola,

Most importantly, we have no idea how his body would hold up after being hit hard several times.

[BillyMadison]

Thing is, could anyone take the big man down?!?

[cthomer5000]

If he had tried to play football, I think he'd project to tight end, tackle, or defensive end. It's incedibly tough to guess how good he would have been.

[MrBug708]

IF Shaq were to play football right now, he couldnt handle it. Of course, if he were training for football, his body would not have the same size to it. I think he would make a good DT/DE because of his speed for his size and strenght

[Bee]

I played college football against a few "tall" guys, it takes a lot more than size to play. Someone that tall would be practically useless after one hit to his knees if he didn't have football skills to go with his size. He might be useful on special teams bocking field goals, but that's about it.

This reminds me of when Ed "Too Tall" Jones started boxing. A lot of people thought he'd be great because he was big and strong. Basically, he was a punching bag. Shaq is a great basketball player because his height is critical and his build gives him an advantage over other tall players. In football, his legs would be taken out from under him and his build is nowhere near what it would need to be to be competitive.

[BillyMadison]

Ovbiously, h couldnt just strap on pads and play... now had he trained and been playing from the start... how would he do? Comeon... the NFL has never seen a 7' 320 LBS. Monster! I think this guy would be a monster on the DL.

[vtbub]

He'd be intimidating, but he's not very agile.

[Bee]

A lot of tall DEs don't make it to the NFL because they get cut-block and their knees don't hold up. He'd have had to really work on his leg strength and his quickness to avoid those kind of blocks. Very few tall DEs can do it. I don't see Shaq having that kind of quickness, nor the work ethic to really do it. He was known as being pretty lazy early in his career.

[sabotai]

"the NFL has never seen a 7' 320 LBS. Monster! I think this guy would be a monster on the DL."

There might be a very good reason why the NFL hasn't seen a 7' 320 lb monster before....

[BillyMadison]

No... its cause they all play basketball.

[sabotai]

Yeah, they all play basketball because they can't play football. ;)

[Daimyo]

I don't think his center of gravity is low enough to be effective at football... like someone said, there is a reason you don't see 7-footers playing football (i've never seen one at any level).

[Blackadar]

On the line, it'd be easy to block him or get around him. Anybody could just get under his pads and stand him up. That leaves TE, and his knees wouldn't take the beating. Plus, Shaq's hands aren't that good.

[SackAttack]

Just to play devil's advocate, fellas like Flutie always get knocked for being too short. What about Shaq at QB?

[thealmighty]

Shaq "Nate Newton" O'Neill

[mckerney]

With his toe problems, I doubt he'd last too long. Guys would be aiming to stomp on it and send him to the sidelines.

[SunDancer]

Is Iowa replacing Banks with a tall passer?

[mckerney]

Originally posted by SackAttack
Just to play devil's advocate, fellas like Flutie always get knocked for being too short. What about Shaq at QB?

Shaq at QB? If you don't mind him not being able to complete anything over 2 or 3 yards. I mean, have you seen the man shoot the basketball.

His dunking ability could translate into him being very good at handing the ball off though.

[TroyF]

Well, at least in football, most of his pet moves would be legal. :)

TroyF