Respected reporter for the Tampa Bay Times released a report that Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette tweeted out “mandatory minicamp was nearly SIX weeks ago. [Fournette] admitted to weighing 240-something. I asked a coach if he was more like 250-something. His response was ‘more.’” A lot of people jumped on the fact that this was a huge deal but should it be?
It’s never too early to look at some of the NFL Week 8 odds as there are some incredible matchups like the Baltimore Ravens vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Green Bay Packers vs Buffalo Bills to name a couple. This news could really affect the betting markets overall.
Remember Back in the Day?
This generation of athletes are paid to keep their body in peak shape by training and nutrition throughout the entire year. However, back in the day there were players that used the training camp and preseason to shed the extra pounds that they accumulated over the offseason.
Players should be able to keep their body in good shape with the amount of money that these players are able to sign as former players would have jobs during the offseason to supplement their contracts. Now with the ability to focus primarily on training and conditioning, there is an issue if he allowed himself to get overweight during the offseason.
Is This A Big Deal?
If the reported weight of being north of 250 pounds is accurate, that is almost 30 pounds heavier than his listed playing weight at 228 pounds. It could turn out to be an issue as the reason behind him being released by the Jacksonville Jaguars was due to a bad work ethic and the thinking was pairing him in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers locker room with a guy like Tom Brady might help.
Coming into mandatory training camp overweight can be a few issues as the obvious issues is the fact that soft tissue injuries can happen as a result of it as you are asking the body to do things it has not been trained to do in such a while. That can result in hamstring or calf issues, which obviously will put him on the sideline for a few weeks or more depending on the severity of the injuries.
However, there is also a chance that he will be just fine as he is entering his age 27 season and that his body is good enough to bounce back normally and just needs the conditioning to make sure everything will work normally. Not every player is going to take care of their body regularly and that is okay.
Conclusion
Not every athlete has the same mindset in terms of their workout regimen or what nutritional values things have. In terms of some of the workout videos that he has posted shows that he has easily cut down the weight and looks like he is ready for Week 1 of the NFL season already.
It is weird to see that with someone in the locker room with a guy like Tom Brady and the knowledge of how the TB12 method is to keep him at top physical performance all the way through the years that Fournette would be learning under his wing about it to remain in his prime for as long as humanly possible.
This could be a big deal or no deal at all, but the fact is that we are discussing it. Playoff Lenny is young enough to make this change to his diet and exercise throughout the offseason to make sure photos like that never come back out. This feels like a young man that was used to eating whatever he wanted throughout the offseason and coming back in shape, but with the contract extension during the offseason, it definitely is not good luck but it is nothing to be worried about… yet.
