According to the Indianapolis Star’s Stephen Holder, Indianapolis Colts starting left guard Jack Mewhort has added 10 pounds of muscle upon his arrival at training camp Tuesday in anticipation of this upcoming season:
Jack Mewhort is up to 315 pounds from 305, but you can hardly tell. Praised new strength coach effusively. Could add some power to his game
— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) July 26, 2016
Originally a 2014 2nd round pick of the Colts, Mewhort has quietly developed into one of the better starting offensive guards in football.
Not to mention, he’s been very durable too, having only missed 2 starts over the past two seasons for the Colts along the starting offensive line.
Of course, the Colts overhauled their coaching staff earlier this offseason and one of the additions was head strength and conditioning coach Darren Krein, who previously spent the past 5 seasons with the Miami Dolphins (2011-15) and has over 16 years of NFL coaching experience.
It looks like the early results are paying dividends, as Mewhort could add some much needed power in the trenches to the Colts blocking game with the additional strength.
The 24 year old Mewhort could be due for a breakout season, making the jump into becoming one of the NFL’s truly elite starting offensive guards.
Per Pro Football Focus (subscription), Mewhort was the NFL’s 9th best offensive guard overall with a +85.6 grade overall including an +86.6 grade in run blocking this past season.
With the added strength, assuming he doesn’t lose any quickness or flexibility, it’s possible that such a grade could be even higher after this season.