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Vegas
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When NFL Contracts Want a Pound of Flesh | The MMQB with Peter King
I cringed when I saw reports that Eddie Lacy’s deal with the Seahawks includes weight clauses, with maximum earnings of $385,000. I get that he has struggled with weight (he reportedly weighed in at 267 last week), but I learned the hard way—as an agent and team executive—that these clauses are counterproductive and detrimental to a player’s health.
In the days, hours and even minutes before scheduled weigh-ins, I discovered that players would sit in saunas and steam rooms, run on the treadmill in rubber suits and, among other tactics, use diuretics to drain water weight. Whether they made their target weight or not, these methods would deplete them of strength and glycogen storage for days or weeks to come. Teams should have evolved their approach by now; they could use measurements for body fat or take DEXA scans, which measure bone density. These methods would be more productive and beneficial for both the team and player. This is an area ripe for change.
I cringed when I saw reports that Eddie Lacy’s deal with the Seahawks includes weight clauses, with maximum earnings of $385,000. I get that he has struggled with weight (he reportedly weighed in at 267 last week), but I learned the hard way—as an agent and team executive—that these clauses are counterproductive and detrimental to a player’s health.
In the days, hours and even minutes before scheduled weigh-ins, I discovered that players would sit in saunas and steam rooms, run on the treadmill in rubber suits and, among other tactics, use diuretics to drain water weight. Whether they made their target weight or not, these methods would deplete them of strength and glycogen storage for days or weeks to come. Teams should have evolved their approach by now; they could use measurements for body fat or take DEXA scans, which measure bone density. These methods would be more productive and beneficial for both the team and player. This is an area ripe for change.