Great Teammate: LeBron James Cruelly Blames High School Quarterback for Ruining His Football Career

LeBron James has often been touted as having physical skills and athleticism that could translate to the NFL field. It’s hard to question his decision to stick with basketball, but Monday night, LeBron put a lot of the blame on one specific person for ending his football career.

Joining Eli Manning and Peyton Manning for their secondary Monday Night Football broadcast on ESPN2, the quarterback stars lauded LeBron for his football prowess in high school but questioned who was throwing him the ball.

If LeBron’s quarterback from St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio was watching the broadcast, he was probably eagerly awaiting a name drop on national TV. But instead of offering any praise for his high school quarterback, LeBron savagely roasted the pass thrower for ending his brief football career.

“If I would have had a better quarterback in high school, I might have continued to play football,” LeBron told the Manning brothers. “But I took way too many hits and that led me to the basketball court.”

Later in the broadcast, Peyton and Eli were both reprimanded by their football-playing father Archie Manning, who joined the show at halftime and wisely suggested an apology. “You absolutely have to apologize to LeBron’s high school quarterback, Peyton,” Archie said.

LeBron’s high school quarterback may have encouraged the basketball star to forgo playing football in his senior year of high school, but it didn’t stop him from fielding NFL offers nearly a decade later. LeBron confirmed longstanding rumors that he received football contract offers from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Seahawks coach Pete Carroll during the 2011 NBA lockout.

As interesting as it would have been to watch, LeBron wisely turned both offers down and kept his focus on building arguably the greatest basketball career in NBA history.

Watch above via ESPN2