Packers LB Krys Barnes drops weight, feels faster to start 2021
Green Bay Packers linebacker Krys Barnes is feeling light on his feet to start his second season in the NFL.
A surprise starter as an undrafted rookie last season, Barnes now believes he played too heavy last season, so he lost around 10 pounds and now feels faster at 235 pounds.
“Looking back on the film last year, I realized I was super heavy last year,” Barnes said Monday. “I knew my weight was up, but I didn’t know how much I was carrying. I lost about 10 pounds. I still feel powerful, I still have all my power. Feel a little bit faster.”
The Packers officially list Barnes at 229 pounds. He also weighed 229 pounds at UCLA’s pro day in 2020, so there’s a good chance he was 10-15 pounds heavier than expected if he was in the 245-pound range last season.
The modern game at linebacker is more and more about speed and the ability to play sideline-to-sideline against both the run and the pass. Playing lighter might help Barnes be more effective chasing down runs plays and moving around in coverage.
As a rookie, Barnes played in 13 games and made 10 starts. He delivered 78 tackles, leading all undrafted rookies, and five tackles for losses. According to the team, Barnes became just the third undrafted rookie to deliver 75 or more tackles in a season over the last 20 years.
But there’s room for improvement. Pro Football Focus gave Barnes poor grades against both the run and pass during his rookie season, even though he had 30 stops (or tackles constituting a defeat for the offense) and only seven missed tackles.
A significant jump in performance is certainly possible if Barnes is better both physically and mentally during his second NFL season.
After five practices, Barnes looks set in stone as one of the two starting linebackers for the Packers. He’s started alongside veteran newcomer De’Vondre Campbell throughout team periods to start camp.
Maybe a faster version of Barnes and the veteran consistency of Campbell can help the Packers finally field a competent pair of starting inside linebackers in 2021.
