JR Sweezy

[sam1313]

Y'all would be surprised how quickly someone can put on weight when that's basically your life. Not to mention, he's obviously got the genes to be able to get that big. The real trick is being able to bulk up without losing athleticism.

I trained at API one summer (college baseball). I was on the low-level Amateur plan and literally transformed my body in 6 weeks (not to mentioned drop tenths of a second off my 60 time). This is the same place that trains guys for the Combine. They do every sort of test you can imagine. After each workout (2 workouts per day, speed training, strength training) they gave each of us personalized recovery shakes. Everyone had different amounts of protein, simple carbs, complex carbs, fatty acids, Amino Acids, you name it, that was specifically tailored for our needs, not only based on our body composition, but the type of workout we did.

20 lbs (mostly good weight) in 5 weeks for a guy like Sweazy might seem like a lot, but don't forget the resources/time these guys have. Again, when your singular focus is on training/nutrition, it's a lot easier to accomplish these types of things. Not to mention, the grind of an NFL season can make one lose a lot of good muscle mass. Combine that with taking some time off after the Super Bowl to let the body heal, and it's pretty easy to see how a guy like him good make a big change like that. And to beat a dead horse, the genes to do so helps.

You also need to look at the fact that it is only a little over 5% of Sweezy's body weight. 20 lbs. for someone already 300 lbs. and 6'5" is likely a lot easier than someone 200 lbs. and 5'11". As someone said, just adding a ton of creatine alone, to a body that was depleted by a long season, could result in 5-10 lbs. of what appears to be muscle (but is really water within the muscle cells). In any case, it is probably possible (although doubtful it is "pure muscle").

As far as Sweezy as a talent, right now he is my favorite OL, and possibly the best one we have. I hope the rest of them can step up to Sweezy's level in the near future.

 

[vin.couve12]

Attributing lower body strength to the size of one's calves is terribly misguided.

You're free to disagree, even terribly, but I'm referring to the mass in his lower body and attaining a lower center of gravity.

Sweezy has struggled with some of the more powerful DTs in the league in his first couple years, but we have seen a steady improvement as he has developed his technique and continued to get bigger and stronger. Some of that weight he has gained this off-season will be redistributed to his lower body. MASS MOVES ASS.

One of the funny things about this board is that if you're making good points then a fair number of people who don't have anything to add will try to call you out on who you are and how you couldn't possibly know anything for whatever reason.

But anyway, I agree with your overall premise except that from that angle I don't know that I agree with you about the calves. I would also add that leverage in football doesn't just come from lower body mass, that's part of it, but in functional weight training we used to talk about core strength adding to football strength as it pertains to leverage. That's mostly from the knee up to the abdomen and back muscles. Working those muscle groups in both fast and slow twitch fashion will add both explosion and sustainable strength if you do it right.

Anyway, I agree with your concerns though. Weight distribution is very important for a balanced frame with good structural integrity so you're not stressing a lacking area. Just don't know that I'm seeing the same thing.

 

[Pandion Haliaetus]

A
I finally read the article, first of all the author states that Sweezy gained nearly 20 pounds... that could be 17-18 pounds.

2ndly, the article wasn't clear that he gained all near 20 pounds in that 5 weeks of body-building, it just attubited to that fact that most of the weight gain came from that 5 weeks of training over a 10 week period since the Superbowl that he could haved added more weight.

Also, there wasn't a direct quote from Sweezy saying he gained nearly 20 pounds, it seemed rather speculative of the author using Sweezy's listed weight. For all we know Sweezy could have been playing around 303-305 by seasons end.

A lot of people are grasping at straws over a non-issue unless it does become an issue, we'll find out in May-June for sure.

 

[Tech Worlds]

Attributing lower body strength to the size of one's calves is terribly misguided.

You're free to disagree, even terribly, but I'm referring to the mass in his lower body and attaining a lower center of gravity.

Sweezy has struggled with some of the more powerful DTs in the league in his first couple years, but we have seen a steady improvement as he has developed his technique and continued to get bigger and stronger. Some of that weight he has gained this off-season will be redistributed to his lower body. MASS MOVES ASS.

You can't tell what you are claiming as gospel from that picture.

 

[Largent80]

If you guys want to debate the size of his legs have at it. The guy has two years of starting experience, and is improving, I like me some Sweez

 

[hawknation2014]

Attributing lower body strength to the size of one's calves is terribly misguided.

You're free to disagree, even terribly, but I'm referring to the mass in his lower body and attaining a lower center of gravity.

Sweezy has struggled with some of the more powerful DTs in the league in his first couple years, but we have seen a steady improvement as he has developed his technique and continued to get bigger and stronger. Some of that weight he has gained this off-season will be redistributed to his lower body. MASS MOVES ASS.

You can't tell what you are claiming as gospel from that picture.

Certainly not gospel, but I wouldn't say my opinion is terribly misguided either. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Anyway, I think Sweezy is due for a breakout year entering his third season at the position. He's getting physically and mentally ready to take that next step in his development.

 

[Pandion Haliaetus]

The truth is simple, you're wrong.

The picture itself was a horrible sample to pick from to make the claim that you did.

It does not give you an accurate view of his ankles nor does it show the rest of his legs... there is also no comparison to what perfect lower body should look like.

I mean James Carpenter has tree trunks for legs but that didn't stop him from getting man-handled at times. Sweezy has one of the most powerful lower body bases in the NFL based on Vertical Jump and Broad Jumps... tests that measure lower body explosion and strength.

I trust that more that I trust what you see from a mere photograph.

Again, Sweezy put up 21 reps at the combine in the bench press and then only 18 at his Pro Day.

If his Body Mass shifted from 60% upper to 40% lower during off-season training... I'll take it... especially if its a massive boost to his core strength. It would mean that he strengthened a considerable weakness in athleticism. And as you said, it will like shift back closer to 50-50 during the rest of the off-season.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

If Cable believes in him, that's good enough.

 

[Subzero717]

Sweezy sucks.

 

[nanomoz]

Sweezy has flashed brilliance. If he can be more consistent, he's probably a fringe first-tier guard. I'm excited he's a Hawk, it's hard to believe he's so new to the position. He's durable, athletic, and works hard.

 

[SalishHawkFan]

Via twitter today they said Bowie is up to 330, Bailey at 320, Sweezy up to 320 and Carp down to 320 so they've very happy with where they're at.

Bowie, Bailey, and Sweezy are going to be beasts this year. The development of these young linemen, as well as the health of the Pro Bowlers Unger/Okung, is pivotal to their pursuit of a second championship.

I agree, I saw a lot of development last year during the Okung/Breno/Unger injuries. Then they get a solid offseason with Cable and they should be much better. I forget where I read it but I read somewhere that they don't intend to spend a ton of money on the OL or use high draft picks. The way the offense is built with a run first philosophy with a big play pass game doesn't require the OL commitment other offenses do. The way most teams spend their OL money is on two guys (LT and one other), and rookies or journeymen in the other spots. That appears true on our team as well.

I think they'll continue to draft mid to late round guys for the OL and grab some UDFA's as well and just let them compete. They've got to be discount shoppers somewhere and apparently that's where they think they can get value.

If you have followed Tom Cable at all, you know his OL's never are top 10 in pass pro but are very good at run blocking. With the zone blocking scheme, they want athletic guys who can get to the second level and pancake block in the run game and be sufficient in pass pro.

I think JR is above average but not great obviously. He's a project. I love the idea of taking a DT and coverting him though, takes a ton of confidence and foresight to see that and make it happen.

We aren't "sufficient" in pass pro. We're dead last in the NFL. That has to improve.

 

[plyka]

20 pounds in 5 weeks?

Totally natural and all muscle, I'm sure....

I doubt many football players still juice at least like athletes used to. Now their "juice" is more likely to make you even healthier than actually kill you off in your mid fourtys with cancer.

 

[sutz]

We aren't "sufficient" in pass pro. We're dead last in the NFL. That has to improve.

Not to offend, but we've been hearing that for seveeral years now, pretty much the entire Pete Carroll era, yet we still seem to make the playoffs on a regular basis and just won the Super bowl.

Hey, I'm a proponent of the old "Every day in every way we get a little better" and all, and I suspect that the coaching staff actually agrees with you. However, I doubt they plan on panicking and spending all of our Day 1/2 draft capital on OL.

Since we don't draft in the top half of the round, I doubt seriously we will get a player that will contribute significantly his first year. That's actually fine by me, because we don't need that. We need players that will be coached up and developed to help the team two to three years down the road.

Free Agency this off season has not been some massive body blow to the team. We lost some good talent, but we still have a pretty good team here. Perhaps some of the key players we need to step up this year are a bit untested, but I trust Pete & John when it comes to player evaluation and how ready the team will be come September. They haven't let us down yet.

 

[jammerhawk]

Sweezy "won" the starting spot because there wasn't competition.

If you let two bad players compete for the same spot then you're guaranteeing that one of the bad players gets the spot.

Make him compete against an average guard and he will lose and be a respectable backup.

Don't think Coach Cable would agree with your negative opinion about Sweezy. Besides he beat out McQuistan so your opinion is wrong. He's a good 2nd level run blocker who hasn't given up a lot of sacks. His gaining some size if it happened w/o any loss of athletic ability will help him in pass pro.

He wasn't an OLineman before reaching the NFL and gets stronger each season. I'm sure Lynch thinks he's not a bad run blocker and was good enough to play all season for two years and is Super Bowl winner. I think he gets better and better and will soon be regarded as genuinely an elite Guard.

Don't believe the BS about this player he is a good player and a developing talent. The Hawks need depth at tackler but we. Are not bad at guard. Carpenter is also a talented player who has had health problems and hasn't been playing at his draft weight since he got hurt in his rookie season. If Carp shows up in shape and ready to have a 'contract' year. We should all be happy with what we see from both the Guards.

 

[Pandion Haliaetus]

Via twitter today they said Bowie is up to 330, Bailey at 320, Sweezy up to 320 and Carp down to 320 so they've very happy with where they're at.

Bowie, Bailey, and Sweezy are going to be beasts this year. The development of these young linemen, as well as the health of the Pro Bowlers Unger/Okung, is pivotal to their pursuit of a second championship.

I agree, I saw a lot of development last year during the Okung/Breno/Unger injuries. Then they get a solid offseason with Cable and they should be much better. I forget where I read it but I read somewhere that they don't intend to spend a ton of money on the OL or use high draft picks. The way the offense is built with a run first philosophy with a big play pass game doesn't require the OL commitment other offenses do. The way most teams spend their OL money is on two guys (LT and one other), and rookies or journeymen in the other spots. That appears true on our team as well.

I think they'll continue to draft mid to late round guys for the OL and grab some UDFA's as well and just let them compete. They've got to be discount shoppers somewhere and apparently that's where they think they can get value.

If you have followed Tom Cable at all, you know his OL's never are top 10 in pass pro but are very good at run blocking. With the zone blocking scheme, they want athletic guys who can get to the second level and pancake block in the run game and be sufficient in pass pro.

I think JR is above average but not great obviously. He's a project. I love the idea of taking a DT and coverting him though, takes a ton of confidence and foresight to see that and make it happen.

We aren't "sufficient" in pass pro. We're dead last in the NFL. That has to improve.

Yeah, that was last year.

Where the Seahawks lost:

Okung, who some apparently feel is a top 5 LT for 8.5 games... his replacement was an experienced but unathletic guard playing out of position in Paul McQuistan.

Giacomini who some felt was evolving into a premium right tackle for 7.5 games... his replacement was a 21 year old rookie, Michael Bowie, who came from a small school.

Unger, who some feel is an All-Pro talent at OC was lost for 3 games and he was obviously unhealthy throughout the season.

You're three most important and most experienced players were hindered by injuries that caused them to miss 19 collective games plus under perform in many others.

Carpenter, the LG was not only overweight but was playing tenatively safe on the haunts of back to back knee injuries that hindered him serverly the last two years.

Sweezy, the RG missed 1 game, but he was also a 2nd year converted DT in his first full-season as a starter.

The other back-up linemen were both 21 year old undrafted rookies Alvin Bailey and Caylin Hauptmann and 3rd year, Jeanpierre whose last start came in 2011.

A lot of reason why the Seahawks were dead last.... a lot of it was health and inexperience in the O-line.

But other reason includes:

TE Zach Miller often a "6th Linemen" missed two games and was hobbled around in others. His replacement was a 5th round rookie who was the 2nd TE taken from his school, Luke Willson. Willson only got starts because 4th year TE Anthony McCoy was out for the entire season.

Michael Robinson who is very solid protector missed 7 games and his replacement was an RB convert that never played FB in Derrick Coleman who happens to also be deaf.

But the worst of it wasn't the Seahawks missing their most important protectors... it was Russell Wilson and the lack of WRs that could gain separation. Everything collided into catastrophe because not only the back-up linemen struggled to maintain blocks, Wilson held the ball forever because WRs weren't getting consistent separation. It didn't help losing his biggest and most experienced target in Sidney Rice who was hobbled by a bum knee and then later tore.

It didn't help not having Percy Harvin and itts definitely the biggest reason why the Seahawks threw multiple picks plus a gold mine to secure him. WRs like Percy take some big pressure off Wilson because Harvin is a big time play-maker that can break ankles with his agility. Teams can't pin their ears back and just harass Wilson and Lynch. We saw this in the Superbowl with a healthy Harvin.

And speaking of Superbowls the Seahawks won one with the worst pass-protection in the NFL per snap... and it still ranked 8th in points scored despite facing many of the NFLs most elite defenses.

The offense and the protection will naturally get better with the young getting more experience and the experienced getting healthy all the while building up the necessary chemistry that leads to consistent performance unless the Seahawks ofcourse have injury woes where 8 or so players miss 65+ accumaltive games.

Yeah, don't think so. This offense is going to be top 5 next year, just wait, with the better protection that you seek including from sand irritating your undercarriage.

 

[Subzero717]

We aren't "sufficient" in pass pro. We're dead last in the NFL. That has to improve.

Not to offend, but we've been hearing that for seveeral years now, pretty much the entire Pete Carroll era, yet we still seem to make the playoffs on a regular basis and just won the Super bowl.

Hey, I'm a proponent of the old "Every day in every way we get a little better" and all, and I suspect that the coaching staff actually agrees with you. However, I doubt they plan on panicking and spending all of our Day 1/2 draft capital on OL.

Since we don't draft in the top half of the round, I doubt seriously we will get a player that will contribute significantly his first year. That's actually fine by me, because we don't need that. We need players that will be coached up and developed to help the team two to three years down the road.

Free Agency this off season has not been some massive body blow to the team. We lost some good talent, but we still have a pretty good team here. Perhaps some of the key players we need to step up this year are a bit untested, but I trust Pete & John when it comes to player evaluation and how ready the team will be come September. They haven't let us down yet.

Actually the OL has sucked since 08. On top of that being dead last in pass pro and still being succesful doesnt excuse the fact that we sucked in that area nor should it be ignored. We have way too many penalties against us. Should just say its okay because we won the SB? Thats a horrible argument.

 

[Tech Worlds]

Our oline was horrible last year. Not only in pass pro but in run blocking as well. Lynch saw his per carry average take a big hit last year.

But alas, not is all lost. I expect a big jump in pass protection this season as Russell continues to develop and will get rid of the ball faster.

 

[Tical21]

For the final damn time, broad jump and whatever other measurable you brought up means ZERO. ZERO. F'n Zero. You need to start barking up a different tree. If you ever had played a down of football in your life, you would know that. In your world, Jerry Rice and Steve Largent should have been cut the day they showed up to camp. We should put Bruce Campbell in the HOF for his Sparq rating.

Sweezy plays differently than he is built. He's built top-heavy. but he was a state champion wrestler. Those guys play with a lower center of gravity than anybody else. I'll fully agree that he isn't built like a prototypical guard. He does have skinnier calves. He doesn't have a lot of sand in his arse. Normally that would significantly hurt. But wrestlers get a different kind of low than everybody else does, and have better balance and explosion while being that low than the rest of us can muster.

 

[sutz]

Actually the OL has sucked since 08. On top of that being dead last in pass pro and still being succesful doesnt excuse the fact that we sucked in that area nor should it be ignored. We have way too many penalties against us. Should just say its okay because we won the SB? Thats a horrible argument.

Well, I do think that having the most successful season in team history kind of precludes running around with our hair on fire trying to "fix" something that is broken more in your mind than in reality.

As I said in my post, I'm sure the team will be working to improve O-line play. It's what they do. Part of that is evaluating what we have now, both as current starters and backups in training. Another part of that is determining whether a player available in the draft helps the team more than some other player, perhaps at a different position.

I'm a little curious on what metrics you reference to make sweeping statements like "dead last in pass pro" and "too many penalties." And somehow "sucked" doesn't sound like a quantitative judgement to me.

 

[hawknation2014]

Actually the OL has sucked since 08. On top of that being dead last in pass pro and still being succesful doesnt excuse the fact that we sucked in that area nor should it be ignored. We have way too many penalties against us. Should just say its okay because we won the SB? Thats a horrible argument.

Well, I do think that having the most successful season in team history kind of precludes running around with our hair on fire trying to "fix" something that is broken more in your mind than in reality.

As I said in my post, I'm sure the team will be working to improve O-line play. It's what they do. Part of that is evaluating what we have now, both as current starters and backups in training. Another part of that is determining whether a player available in the draft helps the team more than some other player, perhaps at a different position.

I'm a little curious on what metrics you reference to make sweeping statements like "dead last in pass pro" and "too many penalties." And somehow "sucked" doesn't sound like a quantitative judgement to me.

If they want to repeat, they have to get better. The offensive line has the greatest room for improvement.