Joe Theismann: André the Giant almost played for Redskins

According to Joe Theismann, deceased legendary wrestler André the Giant almost became a member of the Washington Redskins back in the day.

André the Giant transcended the sport of professional wrestling and became one of the most well known figures in the world because of his immense stature.

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André was well over seven-feet tall and weighed north of 500 pounds.

With a such a large presence and following, it only makes sense that there are stories, legends and myths about the most polarizing figure to ever grace the squared circle.

The latest story, comes from Washington Redskins Great Joe Theismann. Theismann led the Redskins to a Super Bowl victory at Super Bowl XVII.

According to Theismann, he was also almost a teammate of André the Giant.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Theismann discussed how the Redskins went after André the Giant, to be a special teams player who could block field goals.

"“I will say this though: one of the forerunners of football 12 months a year was George Allen, our old coach with the Redskins,” Theismann said. “George used to try and make some kind of a big deal, usually in the first two weeks of May. I remember one year he sent me to New York to Toots Shor’s, and I got a picture taken — and you can look it up online, — with Andre the Giant.“[Allen] had talked to Vince McMahon Sr.,” Theismann went on. “This was the type of progressive mind that he had; he talked to Vince McMahon Sr. and said ‘Look, I’m thinking about maybe bringing Andre the Giant in, signing him, so that he can come in and block field goals and extra points for us.’ Now, I don’t know whether it was true or not, but if you look up the picture, I look like an infant. Is that unbelievable or what? Look at his head! And I’ll tell you something, I shook his hand and I lost my arm. I mean, it went all the way up to my elbow. I had no forearm or anything.“I will say this though: one of the forerunners of football 12 months a year was George Allen, our old coach with the Redskins,” Theismann said. “George used to try and make some kind of a big deal, usually in the first two weeks of May. I remember one year he sent me to New York to Toots Shor’s, and I got a picture taken — and you can look it up online, — with Andre the Giant.“[Allen] had talked to Vince McMahon Sr.,” Theismann went on. “This was the type of progressive mind that he had; he talked to Vince McMahon Sr. and said ‘Look, I’m thinking about maybe bringing Andre the Giant in, signing him, so that he can come in and block field goals and extra points for us.’ Now, I don’t know whether it was true or not, but if you look up the picture, I look like an infant. Is that unbelievable or what? Look at his head! And I’ll tell you something, I shook his hand and I lost my arm. I mean, it went all the way up to my elbow. I had no forearm or anything."

The best stories about wrestlers always seem to revolve around André the Giant. Whether it’s for his acting, the amount of beers he could drink in one sitting or the thought of the immense giant playing for the Redskins, there is always something to be said about the legendary wrestler.

Just imagining the gigantic athlete leaping and coming straight at the kick would have been enough to give any kicker nightmares back then.

André never took the football field and no one will ever know what could have been, but it’s easy to assume he would have a left major impact there just like he did in the ring.

[H/T: Uproxx, Washington Post]

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