Top 5: Athletes Who Could Play In The NFL
By J.R.
3. Joe Mauer
Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
Current Sport/Team: Baseball, Minnesota Twins
Height/Weight: 6’5″ 230 lbs
Position in Football: QB
Our second baseball player on the list checks in at #3 with Minnesota Twins’ catcher Joe Mauer. Mauer has a rocket attached to his right arm and also has prototypical size of today’s NFL quarterbacks. I know it would be insane to think a player could just step in from another sport and be a successful NFL QB, but Joe Mauer actually played quarterback in high school and led his team to back-to-back state championships. Along with that, Mauer was named USA Today’s High School Player of the Year in 2001 as a quarterback and catcher as well as Reebok All-American. Mauer was a highly coveted Quarterback recruit coming out of high school and had scholarships to some of the top programs in the country but instead decided to sign with the Minnesota Twins after the 2001 MLB draft. With all that being said it is very possible that Mauer could have been a NFL QB if he would have decided to do go that route instead of playing baseball. With the Raiders they have been in a search for a franchise QB since Rich Gannon was the starter in 2002 and if we are picking from all the other non-football athletes, I choose Mauer to come in and be my guy. I’m not saying Mauer would be a productive NFL player but it would be interesting to see if he could develop into the QB many college coaches thought he would be out of High School.