In the spirit of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, we're projecting which NFL players would be best suited to participate in 10 popular sports.
Just about every player in the NFL has been lifting weights consistently since high school. I could name dozens of candidates to compete in this Olympic sport, but I tried to narrow the discussion down to two standouts. Here they are:
Nick Mangold, C, New York Jets
Mangold is one of the NFL's most dominant offensive linemen. He has excellent awareness and balance, but his calling card is a combination of power and strength. Those traits apparently run in the Mangold family; Nick's younger sister, Holley, is a member of the U.S. women's Olympic weightlifting team.
Stephen Paea, DT, Chicago Bears
The NFL Scouting Combine is a very valuable scouting tool. During the course of a week, scouts are able to test NFL prospects in several different exercises and drills. One of those tests involves seeing how many times each prospect can lift 225 pounds on the bench press. At the 2011 combine, Paea set a new record by pumping out an unbelievable 49 reps. Amazingly, he was disappointed that he failed to reach 50.
Follow Daniel Jeremiah on Twitter @MoveTheSticks.
