Gaining mass has been an issue for Barkevious Mingo ever since the Browns made him their first round pick in 2013.
The pass rusher was especially invisible last season, starting just two games, failing to record a sack and finishing the year at just 227 pounds.
The Browns listed him at 240, but that was always a myth -- until now.
As Tom Reed of Cleveland.com reported this week, Mingo used his offseason to pile on weight and muscle, showing up to a Browns press conference this week looking like a new man.
"It's not important," Mingo said, when asked how much he weighed, but the player's agent, Rick Roberts, told Reed that the former LSU star is up to 251 pounds after following an unorthodox training regimen.
In February, Mingo voyaged to suburban Dallas to train with Vickie Gates, a former world-class body builder of more than 20 years. Now 53, Gates has worked with a number of draft prospects and believed she could do the same for the Browns defender.
Moving Mingo into her home, the ex-body sculptor enlisted the pass rusher on a two-a-day regimen of cardio and weight training, while fueling him with a whopping 5,892 calories per day.
Between workouts, Gates had Mingo feast on a breakfast menu that, per Reed, "featured grits, biscuits, eggs, sausage and the occasional pancake. Lunches and dinners consisted of combinations of baked potatoes, rice, chicken, beef, lasagna and a vegetable."
In between meals, Mingo ate peanut butter sandwiches and also helped Gates' grandchildren with their homework.
"He's a very easy-going person," said Gates. "He made it work. He ate what he was supposed to eat. He made my job very easy."
Mingo's agent was stunned with the results, saying: "When I saw it, I almost had a heart attack. I couldn't believe the difference."
Said Mingo: "Honestly, this whole offseason my main focus was getting bigger. Bigger, faster, stronger, and just coming into the building, coming into the workouts bigger, faster, stronger."
After being dangled as trade bait last year, Mingo is hoping the weight gain will help recharge a career that could see him playing elsewhere in 2017 if he doesn't turn it on come September. He's certainly done the work to make that happen.
