Weeks before training camp, Bryant McKinnie is shedding pounds

Ravens offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie is so big that he describes his weight in just two digits. The “300” is assumed.
McKinnie is still squarely in the 300s, but he says he’s been working to cut his weight in the offseason. The offensive tackle told Tim Brando on Yahoo! Sports Radio on Wednesday that his weight is down to 350 pounds.

That’s down from what he claims was a high of 386 pounds when he played for the Vikings and down 10 pounds from a reported weight of 360 after voluntary workouts.

“Once you just be consistent and keep doing it, you start feeling better and better each day every time you go out and do it,” McKinnie said. “Add in the healthy meals and stuff, it definitely makes it a lot better because you’re putting good fuel into your body.”

The Ravens signed McKinnie before the 2011 season after the Vikings cut him. Minnesota claimed McKinnie weighed 400 pounds at the time, but McKinnie denied that claim on Wednesday.

“I never was,” McKinnie said. “That was exaggerated by the Vikings.”

McKinnie has never missed a game because of injury in his 10-year career, and joked that he is the most durable player on the field. But his weight began raising eyebrows within the organization and elsewhere, and he said the Ravens wanted him to shed weight so he could be fresh later in games.

“[The Ravens wanted me] to be able to still have that conditioning to get through that fourth quarter, still play at a high level in the fourth quarter as well,” McKinnie said.

 Ravens teammates have been supportive of McKinnie’s efforts to slim down. McKinnie recently posted a photograph of a gift from Ray Lewis. The linebacker bought McKinnie a juicer.


(baltimoresun.com)