LeBron James NFL Free Agency Talk Has NFL Players Rushing to Defend Their Sport

NFL players are getting a little defensive about the difficulty of their sport.

It has all come out since LeBron James got the world speculating about his potential as a football player after he sent a playful tweet asking about NFL free agency.

Let's just say that players are not rushing to say that LeBron would dominate their sport.

Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Leon Hall had the following to say on Fox News Ohio, and was quoted on thescore.com:

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“It wouldn’t be easy. I recommend he keep his NBA contract and just play the Madden video games if he misses football.”

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Bengals safety Chris Crocker also had this to say:

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“There aren’t many guys with the athleticism and strength LeBron has in any sport. But I also think guys pick the sports they pick for a reason. Just like (Chad) Ochocinco thinks he’s a soccer player until he gets up close and sees how skilled pro soccer players really are, there’s nothing easy about the NFL.”

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Then there is former NFL linebacker Chris Spielman. Spielman, also on thescore.com, didn't mince his words about what he thought would limit James:

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"[James] is greatest athlete I’ve ever seen... [But] he’s the mentally weakest person I’ve ever seen."

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Ouch! The weakest ever?

You know, while it is fair to question LeKing's toughness after his performance in last year's finals, I think it might be going a little far to call him the weakest ever. Besides, you can't choke if you aren't good in the first place.

Tony Gonzalez managed to make the most baffling comments, which is weird since he is a former college basketball player. Gonzalez, on aol.spotingnews.com, said:

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"Could he handle first of all, going out to practice every day? The schedule that we have is way different than what they have in basketball. It’s a lot harder."

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What? The NBA doesn't practice every day because they are playing four games a week for seven months a year. And even with four games a week, they still get practices in, too. NFL teams only practice three times a week.

There are a lot of things that you could point to in the NFL that would be harder, but the intensity of the practice schedule is probably not one of them.