Ray Lewis Lightens Up

Unlike his teammate Ed Reed, linebacker Ray Lewis is attending the Ravens’ mandatory three-day minicamp in Owings Mills.

He was at practice Tuesday, looking noticeably slimmer after months of biking, swimming and other offseason exercises in South Florida.

“Pulled a little bit from this, a little bit from that,” he said of his training regimen. ":When you go through what I go through during the season, (weight) just naturally comes off."

How much weight has he dropped since the end of the 2011 season?

“I’ll keep that between me and me,” he said with a smile.

He did reveal that there is a method to his madness, or whatever you want to label his rigorous offseason work. Having watched the NFL become more pass happy every year, he is feeling the need to be lighter and more agile. There’s no doubt some teams picked on him on third downs last season.

“In your 17th year, you want to come back with a different mentality. My mentality was change with the game,” he said. “There’s no more true, true, true, physical, physical fullback who is going to come at me and sledgehammer me all day. Everything is all about mismatches now, about speed and running and getting smaller people on the field. So just adjust to the game. You see some guys, as they get older, a lot of people don’t (adjust). That’s my thing. OK, the game is changing, everything going five wide, so just change with the game. That’s my process.”

Expect to see a lighter Lewis in the middle of the Ravens’ defense in 2012.


(csnwashington.com)