LeBron to the Browns: Why Not? Hundreds of Millions of Reasons

OK, I get it.

Cleveland's Eric Mangini wants to sign LeBron James so he won't have to endanger Joshua Cribbs on the final play of a game that's beyond his reach.

Unless, of course, LeBron pulls a hamstring in the fourth hour of a typical Mangini practice.

I guess that was the idea when Mangini, the coach of the NFL's worst team, said when asked about LeBron: "I think he should come on down.''

Sure. Why not? James was an all-Ohio wide receiver as a junior in high school before giving up football to concentrate on basketball. And at 6-foot-8, maybe he's tall enough to keep his feet in bounds when Brady Quinn throws him passes aimed at the cheerleaders 10 yards or so off the field.

There is precedent for it.

Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates were pretty good college basketball players who are doing quite well as NFL tight ends -- Gonzalez's prowess in the NCAA basketball tournament moved him up into the first round of the 1997 NFL draft. And Stephen Neal, New England's starting right guard, never played football at Cal-State Bakersfield but was an NCAA wrestling champion who once beat UFC champion Brock Lesnar.

So why shouldn't James, at 260 pounds or so, become a tight end?

Well ...

He will make (with endorsements) hundreds of million as the best player in the NBA. (OK Kobe, the best YOUNG player in the NBA). He would not make hundreds of millions in the NFL, even if he became the best tight end ever. Or the best wide receiver. Or even the best linebacker or defensive end. He'd have to be a quarterback to do that and ... well ... if he has a weakness at his own game, it's his outside shot. In other words, he's not Peyton or Tom.

He'd also be playing for Mangini.

A few years ago, that might have seemed feasible. That was when he was "Mangenius'' with the Jets. Going there would have allowed LeBron to wear his "NY'' hat every day.

Now?

Officially, Mangini is NOT the NFL's worst coach -- the Bills fired Dick Jauron on Tuesday, so I guess that makes Jauron the worst coach for this year. But Mangini's team is 1-8; he ran an ill-conceived "16-point'' play at the end of Monday night's 16-0 loss to Baltimore that ended up with Josh Cribbs, his best player going down with a concussion; and he runs those endless practices that the wise old Jamal Lewis suggested wears out the Browns before the games begin.
And finally, LeBron could be Jai Lewis.

You remember Jai. Or you don't.

He was one of the stars of the George Mason team that shocked the college basketball world by making it to the Final Four in 2006. He wasn't a top NBA prospect, but the New York Giants considered him a good enough athlete at 6-foot-7, 275 pounds (or 6-foot-5, 292 as they listed him) to give him a shot. An offensive tackle, they figured.

He didn't make it through mini-camp because he didn't take to hitting or being hit by NFL players.

So he went back to basketball. First with KK Bosna of the Adriatic League. Then with Ironi Ramat Gan in Israel; Strasbourg in France and now the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the Philippine Basketball Association.

We can see it now.

Mangini has Quinn throw LeBron the ball on the final play of a game in which the Browns are trailing 31-0. He tears up a knee.

When he recovers, he's not NBA material.

But he's good enough to join Jai on the Elasto Painters.