Richard Sherman opens up on weight gain struggles amid rumors of NFL return

Richard Sherman shares insight on weight struggles as he tries to return to NFL

CB Richard Sherman is currently trying to return to the NFL for the 2021 season after stepping away from football after a domestic violence incident back in July. Sherman was forced to focus on his mental state before being able to rejoin the stress of the NFL. He recently announced he is healthy mentally and physically and feels in the best shape in years.

Richard Sherman's peak was during his tenure with the Seattle Seahawks from 2011-2017 when he played in two Super Bowls with the Legion of Boom. He led the NFL in INTs back in 2013 and had five straight seasons of never missing a game. In 2017, Richard Sherman suffered an Achilles injury that ended his season after nine games and he would sign with the San Francisco 49ers in 2018. With the 49ers, Sherman still played as a top defender but was nowhere near his best physically on the field. In 2021, Sherman feels he is back to where he was in 2016.

"I'm more of the guy i was before my Achilles than I was in 2019 and 2018. That's (because) I was able to lose the weight that I wasn't able to lose after my Achilles. I had 15 pounds of 'Dad weight" I guess it was, and I couldn't lose it for my life. I tried to diet. I tried to starve myself. I tried to sit in the sauna all day. I tried keto. I tried every which way to lose the weight and I could never get below 207, and before I tore my Achilles I could never get above 196 ever in my career...Once I got to San Francisco and got past my Achilles, I thought 'Hey I'm at 208 but once I get to running, I'll burn that off and be back to my normal weight' and I never got there. I just had to adapt to being the weight I was. I had to adapt to being 208-209 and it made me strain a lot more and it made me fight a lot more. ..It made me a lot less explosive and hard to recover and harder to stop. People may say 'Oh, that's not that much weight', but it's harder to stop at 210 when you're used to being 195 and stopping at 195 and jumping at 195. It's like having a 15-pound weight vest on...That's what's been cool about this offseason, somehow the weight's been gone...I've been conscious and cognizant with my diet and got the weight off, and it just feels like a weight has been lifted and I'm more springy and more dynamic and able to run longer and move faster without feeling the fatigue and the sluggishness I felt with that kind of weight." - Richard Sherman to Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire.

Richard Sherman being able to feel in such great shape will bode well for his future in the NFL. Several teams have sudden needs at CB and Sherman can come in as a starter. The San Francisco 49ers have expressed interest in having Richard Sherman back. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are without Sean Murphy-Bunting and Jamel Dean was banged up on Sunday. The Carolina Panthers have recently reached out to Richard Sherman after CB Jaycee Horn broke his foot on Thursday. It's only a matter of time before we see Richard Sherman on the field again.