Bill Belichick has always asked a lot of his players while coaching the New England Patriots, whether it was a Super Bowl, a regular-season game or just a training camp practice.
One former Patriot said he witnessed Belichick’s stern coaching almost immediately after getting drafted.
“I guess we’ll start with how Bill put me in fat camp,” ex-Pats running back Stevan Ridley, a third-round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft by New England, said on the “Games with Names” podcast with Julian Edelman.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
Ridley said Belichick put him in “fat camp” because he was “overweight” for an NFL running back coming out of LSU.
So, how much weight did Belichick want Ridley to cut?
“You have that meeting where you come in there, and you’re a rookie. And he gives you your playing weight. And he brought me into the office because I go into the weight room, and [former Patriots strength coach Harold] Nash said, ‘Hop on the scale, Ridley,'” Ridley told Edelman.
“I hopped on the scale, and I’m about 235, 238 pounds. I played at LSU around 230 as a running back. Eight pounds is a lot, bro.”
POTENTIAL NO. 1 OVERALL PICK SKIPPING NFL COMBINE WORKOUTS DUE TO INJURY
Ridley said the Patriots obviously knew he was a bigger running back, and he clearly did something to be drafted in the third round.
But Ridley claims Belichick told him he had to get his playing weight down to 220 pounds.
“How? I said, ‘You’re tripping, bro.’ I said, ‘Nah,’” Ridley recalled. “[Nash] said, ‘Don’t ask me. I’m telling you what the boss man said.’”
Ridley went to Belichick’s office to hear from the head coach himself.
“I walked in and said, ‘Coach, I need to talk to you about this weight. And he said, ‘What’s the number? I can’t really remember what I had.’ Two-twenty, that’s impossible. And he looked at me, and he said, ‘Well, Rid, I mean, really, I think it’s only about $563 per pound per day that you’re overweight. So, it’s really up to you.’
“I can do quick math. I’m a third-round draft pick, I ain’t got money like that. So, fat camp I went.”
Ridley got to working on his weight, and it paid dividends after he made it to Belichick’s preferred playing weight of 220.
Despite what Ridley thought at first, it worked out for him.
“Quick as a cat, man,” he said, laughing, when Edelman asked how he felt. “Freaking nasty, dude. Once I got to that playing weight, I was like, ‘Hey, Bill knows what the hell he’s talking about.’”
Ridley played four years in New England, running for 2,817 yards, including 1,263 his sophomore campaign during the 2012 season, which included 12 of his 22 career rushing touchdowns with the Patriots. Ridley was a part of the 2014 Patriots squad that shockingly defeated the Seattle Seahawks in the 2015 Super Bowl thanks to Malcolm Butler’s goal-line interception.
Ridley then played for the New York Jets, Atlanta Falcons and Pittsburgh Steelers after his Super Bowl-winning final season in New England.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
