Photo by Vince Fleming / The Unsplash License
It’s no secret that many professional athletes are all-star athletes, meaning that many of them can play multiple sports well. After all, most sports require mental and physical agility, so if they’ve got that, they’re pretty much able to play anything. But not many pro athletes are so talented that they can have their pick as to which sport they want to play professionally. And if this is what draws you in, then it’s hard to pick a better time of year for professional sports.
For many sports fans, their favorite time of year is quickly approaching — the time when the NFL, the NBA, and NCAA basketball overlap. It’s an exciting time because there are more games to watch, which means more time spent with friends poring over college basketball predictions for the season or how the Patriots’ D/ST is dominating fantasy football. So you can never say that there’s nothing to watch or do this season.
So, to add to your topics to pore over with friends: Did you know that many NFL players were NCAA basketball stars and could’ve had a shot at the NBA? It seems unlikely, but it’s true. When we think of the NFL, for the most part, we think of big bulky guys. And with the NBA, we think of tall, lanky guys. But that doesn’t mean that some NFL stars couldn’t play for the NBA or vice versa.
Here are a few NFL players that could have had a career in the NBA:
Antonio Gates
Recetnyl retired, Gates played as a tight end for the San Diego/L.A. Chargers for more than a decade. He’s well known in the league for his number of touchdown receptions over the course of his career, which is more than 100. He’s also considered to be one of the best tight ends in NFL history.
Gates played both football and basketball growing up. But in college, he was a power forward for various basketball teams before eventually settling into a starting position at Kent State University. During his time on the team, he received an All-America recognition and helped Kent State to reach the Elite Eight.
Photo by Patrick Ogilvie / The Unsplash License
Tony Gonzalez
Now retired, Gonzalez played as a tight end for both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Atlanta Falcons during his NFL career. He is one of the leading players for most receiving yards by a tight end at 15,127. Some of his other notable achievements include: 14 Pro Bowl nominations, second place in the league for receptions (1,325), and being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019.
In college, Gonzalez played both football and basketball at the University of California at Berkeley. While playing as a tight end for the Golden Bears, he received All-America and All-Pac-10 recognitions. For the university’s basketball team, he played as a forward, where he averaged 7 points and 5 rebounds per game. Ultimately, he didn’t have to decide which sport to play like a pro — the decision was made for him, and the rest is NFL history.
Julius Peppers
Recently retired, Peppers played as a defensive end for the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, and Green Bay Packers during the course of his career. During his career, he was named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2002 and named to the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team and nine times to the Pro Bowl.
Peppers played both football and basketball for the University of North Carolina. As a defensive end for the football team, he received many recognitions like the All-America and All-ACC honors, besides numerous other awards like the Bill Willis Trophy and the Lombardi Award. In basketball, he was a walk-on for the university team, scoring more than 20 points (and 10 rebounds) in a tournament game against Penn State. Despite his success on the basketball court, he decided to quit basketball early on and focus solely on his football career.
