During today’s Lakers-Celtics game, ABC aired a clip of Rajon Rondo claiming he considered trying out for the New England Patriots as a wide-receiver. Back in high school, Rondo was considered a gifted quarterback but at 6’1″ he was too small to be a major college quarterback.
Looking at his shooting percentage, I’m not sure how accurate of a deep thrower he was but watching his court vision, it’s apparent he could have read defenses better than Tim Tebow. When you consider the quarterback talent Kentucky has produced (outside of Andre Woodson), I think he could have been a potential starter in college.
During the off-season, more grainy videos of Rondo on the gridiron popped up around the web than there have been of Peyton Manning and in a regular season game Rondo had Kevin Garnett hike him the ball after the Celtics won the tip-off. He put his receiving skills on display in October on a juggs machine and was recorded warming up on the sidelines at a Kentucky home game throwing a good spiral with velocity and a fluid motion.
I’m not sure how he would have fared as an NFL receiver but on a minimum contract, he could have offered more value than Ocho Cinco’s 15-catch season. Maybe he would have caught the game-winning pass that Welker dropped in the Super Bowls’ waning minutes. Somewhere right now, Tedi Bruschi is yelling at Rondo to turn off the NFL Network, study some game film and work on his shooting.
