2020 NFL Draft: Lamical Perine makes wise move to cut weight
Lamical Perine has cut weight ahead of his final season at Florida, an astute move by the running back looking forward to the 2020 NFL Draft.
Lamical Perine will be looking to boost his stock for the 2020 NFL Draft with a strong senior season at Florida, and has taken steps in the offseason to ensure he is at his best for the Gators.
Perine had his best season as a junior for Flordia last year, racking up 996 yards from scrimmage and eight touchdowns while playing at 5’11” and 227 pounds.
However, according to Barrett Sallee of CBS Sports, Perine has made a concerted effort to drop weight since opting to return for his senior season.
Lamical Perine says that he made a concerted effort to lose weight after deciding to come back to Florida.
— Barrett Sallee 🇺🇸 (@BarrettSallee) July 15, 2019
This is a wise move from Perine looking ahead to the start of his pro career. With the expanse of the passing game and spread concepts in the NFL, bigger backs are become less of a requirement, with slighter and speedier runners better positioned to impact both the ground game and aerial attack in 2019.
Perine may have also been influenced by the so far disappointing NFL career of cousin Samaje, who after a stellar career at Oklahoma has found success tough to come by as a fourth-round pick of the Washington Redskins despite possessing impressive agility for a man of his 240-pound carriage. He averaged just 3.4 yards per carry in 2017 and featured in only five games last season.
Having enjoyed what has to this point been a prolific college career — he has found the endzone 17 times across the last two seasons, Perine will have expectations of making a much bigger impact than his cousin in the NFL. The best way to ensure he does so is to secure a much higher draft position and the greater level of trust and opportunities that usually come as part of being selected in the first three rounds.
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By cutting weight Perine should have a greater appeal to a wider mix of NFL teams come next year and, if he improves again in his final campaign for an SEC power, he can look forward to being in the conversation to be selected in the first two days of the draft.