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It might help him to drop a few . . .
pounds.
Talking about Mehki Becton.
He is listed at 364 pounds.
The reason this came to mind today is that we had a conference call with Becton and fourth-round guard/tackle Cameron Clark.
Something Clark said made me think of another angle about Becton’s weight. Clark was asked by NFL Network’s Kim Jones for his thoughts on Becton’s freakish athleticism for a man his size.
“I when I first met Mekhi, we were running and doing drills, and he was still recovering from an ankle injury from the season, and when he would [run], the whole gym would like stop, so Mekhi is definitely a freak,” Clark said.
Becton and Clark worked together before the draft in Dallas with offensive line guru Duke Manyweather.
When Clark brought up the ankle, it made me think of another reason why Becton might be better off at a lesser weight.
Why not take some pressure off that ankle he hurt last season, and all his lower-body joints, bones and muscles.
Yes, Becton is a freak at 6-7, 364, but couldn’t he be even more of a freak at 6-7, 335?
Probably even more of a freak, don’t you think?
And is 6-7, 335 a small man who wouldn’t be able to pancake defenders just as much?
No, it’s still darn big.
Talking to offensive and defensive linemen over the years, so many talk about losing weight as they get older, to take pressure off their frame.
So why not do some pre-hab here, and have Becton get down to perhaps 335, to take some pressure off his body, especially coming off a pretty significant ankle injury last season?
Pre-hap is a term you hear a lot around NFL teams. It’s the art of doing a lot of training, stretching, messages and so forth to help prevent injuries.
Look, Joe Douglas is totally aware of Becton weight concerns. Surely he has a plan here.
But it’s a challenging balancing act.
He wants Becton to be this massive, athletic linemen who scares the dickens out of defenders who line up over him.
But obviously he wants him to stay healthy, and have a long career.
Douglas feels the Jets will have a good plan for Becton.
“As far as the shape he’s in, we felt confident,” Douglas said after the pick. “We had done a lot of home work with a lot of people who had been working with him throughout this process, and we felt good about where he was physically, and the kind of shape he was in. And I think we have an unbelievable strength and conditioning program headed up by Coach (Justus) Galac, so I’m excited to get him in that program and I know he’s excited as well.”
But one problem is that Galac won’t be seeing Becton for a while since NFL players have to stay way from team facilities right now due to the Coronavirus.
It wouldn’t been ideal for Becton to be attached at the hip with Galac all spring (following the draft)
We will see where this weight things go.
Hey, I could be wrong, but I’d go with 6-7, 335.
May 18, 2020
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