And they are generally happy to embrace their roles as the pygmy elephants of their sport, the baby grand pianos of the game: little, but not that little. I couldn’t move.”Īs a result of enhanced nutrition techniques, changing offensive styles and adjustments to football’s rules, Berger and his brethren of undersize linemen appear to be a growing demographic in the N.F.L.
“One year I tried going up to 320,” he said. Here is Nates attempt at pressing 225lbs. Now in his sixth season with the Vikings and 12th professional season over all, Berger proudly still weighs 305 pounds. But since then, while his colleagues on the line have often ballooned to weights closer to 320 pounds or more (yes, sometimes a lot more), Berger has stayed put. Gatorade, water, whatever - all I wanted in life was to make 300 pounds.”īuoyed (and admittedly somewhat distended) from his hyper hydration, Berger did, in fact, swell to 300 pounds - “303!” he said - which, for a college lineman looking to play in the N.F.L., was the generally accepted bare minimum. Nate Newton, former USFL standout and Washington Redskins outcast, had three Super Bowl rings after his tenth year in the National Football League. “I just never stopped drinking,” he recalled recently. Berger, on the other hand, mostly felt bloated. Many of the players were nervous or anxious, fretting about their bench-press repetitions or their sprint times. hopefuls, was at the combine, the league’s annual scouting carnival. It was February 2005 and Berger, along with hundreds of other N.F.L. MINNEAPOLIS - Joe Berger remembers the feeling.