Kelvin Benjamin Gets Cut
The widest receiver has been jettisoned. Of course about 2 hours ago Kelvin got signed by the Chiefs for some reason, but hey. The Bills finally trimmed the fat.
Benjamin is our newest Eddie Lacy, a player who got by in college on sheer athletic ability and never tried to become a better player. While dunking on Benjamin for being a chubbo is fun (and easy!), his weight honestly isn’t a problem. Lots of football players are pretty solid proof that you can be big and still be effective, even healthy, and make it work for you. In a lot of ways honestly football is a pretty good case for that “healthy at any size” movement that sprung up several years ago. Offensive lineman are fat. Defensive lineman are fat. I would still call them athletes and honestly still call them reasonably healthy. The fact that they work real hard despite their size is a solid testament to body differences. The problem with Kelvin, and why it feels so fun to dunk on his ample real estate, is that his problem isn’t his fat. It’s the reason he’s fat. It’s because he doesn’t care.
Kelvin could absolutely use his size to become a formidable weapon if he bothered to try. I think a giant slab of WR could be a valuable asset in today’s NFL. Not quite a TE, but having a gigantic redzone target who can tower over people and box them out just by merely existing is a talent that could be exploited for significant gains. Look at Gronk. Half of the reason Gronk is who he is is simply due to his size and how well he uses it. If Kelvin bothered to learn how to run routes, or catch the damn ball, and put for effort on every play, he could be a matchup menace. But this is now two teams he’s managed to eat his way off of because he doesn’t seem interesting in getting better.
I’d also have a lot more sympathy for the guy if he didn’t trash Cam Newton as a bad QB after he left. That comment was laughable at the time and has aged like milk.
I’m curious to see if Andy Reid can get anything out of him. Reid has always seemed like an exceptional talent developer, maybe he can find the right motivation to get Kelvin off his substantial booty and play the way he could.
Happy Pearl Harbor day, everyone!
Football is a *TERRIBLE* case for healthy at any size. The biggest players have enormous health problems, quite beyond CTE. Knee and joint problems are extreme, and just the beginning of the vast mess of health issues that ensnare NFL (and collegiate) athletes.
The Healthy at Any Size movement isn’t based in science, it’s attempting to justify and celebrate obesity as something that is just as safe and healthy as shedding those pounds. It’s phenomenally dangerous, and idiotic. While it’s true that there are fat people who are healthier than skinny, inactive people, the reality is, every one of those fat people would be healthier *than they currently are* if they shed some weight. And that includes every fat person in the NFL.
Not everyone’s going to be the same size, and that’s fine. And hey, if you want to be a fatty (I currently am, though less than I was, and still going), and accept the risks that go with it, great– your body, your choice. I ain’t gonna shame anyone. But do it honestly, and accept that it’s just adding a ton of health risks, no matter how healthy you might otherwise be.
I def agree that the healthy at any size movement got co-opted by people who basically just want to use it to rationalize and justify not getting healthier because now they can just hide behind it and say they are healthy when it is not true and they are just hurting themselves in the long run.
I always saw it as more of a state of mind, a way for bigger folks to understand they don’t have to look like super models to be healthy and that it’s not a bad thing if you got a bit around the waist. It also served as a way to not shame people who are big but are still doing things to live a healthy lifestyle.
It’s such a messy issue because really it is just factual being obese is bad for you even if you exercise but you can’t really shame people because that shame and negativity doesn’t help them. It might help some folks get inspired out of it, but it will definitely contribute to the pain of others. No one responds the same way.
But my original point is that if you need an example of a 300lb person who is relatively healthy, a football player is probably the best example you’ll find. Those dudes are in more control of that weight than most people that size.
To add to this, there are also the people who are obese due to hormonal issues but can’t do much about it and it’s unfair to lump them in with the lazy slobs who can do something about it but don’t want to. Shaming them and pressuring them into what they can’t do will just push them into jthe lazy camp. It really is a complicated issue.
For fun, go look up mortality of elite IFBB bodybuilders. Particularly from the late 70s on through the 90s when the mass monster craze really started. So many very lean, not fat all people dying early of heart disease. Of course PED usage is a major confounding factor there, probably more so than NFL (NFL players may use, but I have to doubt they use as much).
Why does Kelvin look less like an obese person and more like a 20 foot tall baby
Your name wins. End of discussion.
Dude hasn’t been the same since his mom died last summer. He’s always been a bit lazy and an eater, but that probably didn’t help in the least.
Hopefully a change of scenery will help him out… or KC BBQ will get him kicked out of the league.
OT but fuck Christmas this year. This is the least I’ve looked forward to Christmas in my life
My first take was a groan at going after such low hanging fruit. The crappier Bills fans have beat the “KB is fat” joke to death this year, and seeing it here saddened me. Then I read the expanded take and I agree with the thought that KBs issues here in Buffalo weren’t his size, but his effort.
Well, maybe a Popeye’s biscuit could get to TE zone.
Sammy Watkins wanted the Chiefs to sign him I’m sure. That way people won’t notice if Sammy plays bad. Mostly because they won’t be able to see around Big KB. Somehow, the Bills will still be represented in the playoffs this year.
Does it matter to the people who constantly make fat jokes about Kelvin Benjamin that he isn’t actually fat, or is it just a lazy way to make the same joke over and over again?
That was one of my favorite subplots when the Panthers got him back after Cams MVP season, was how much he killed them on 3rd down. Everytime they’d get a drive going he’d either drop the ball, line up illegally, line up in the wrong place, or run the wrong route. It turned the Panthers from one of the best 3rd down teams in the league into one of the worst. Even though he’d make some crazy catches he absolutely killed the Panthers.
Anyone else remember Grady Jackson from the Falcons. Dude was like 400 lbs?
Wasn’t he a D-Lineman though? Wait. If Big KB becomes Really Big KB he will become popular by default because everyone loves big men TD’s, right?
Yeah he was d line but he was someone who made a career of being big. I thing he died young tho (like 39).
He’s pretty dang close. Hes got the belly which is the most important part haha.
“The widest receiver”
Dave, I love you.
Is McDerp’s seat back goalposts because lol 90s or is there something more recent?
LOL! Fat Guy Joke
Seriously though, Benjamin deserves to be drawn like a giant baby after his spat with Cam. Didnt even have the balls to own it to his face when Cam confronted him on it pre-game. I hope his ass eats way too much KC BBQ and he ends up the size of Andy Reid.
Andy Reid kinda sorta got his weight down though. I mean he’s not trim by any means, but he’s skinnier than he was in Philly. Philly Andy Reid is Fat Andy Reid; KC Andy Reid is Newly Skinny Walrus Andy Reid.
Sammy Watkins used to be pretty good. Until now…..