Tennessee Titans offensive guard Chance Warmack made his coaches proud showing up to work the day after Thanksgiving having actually lost weight on the holiday in which most Americans over-indulge to the point of exhaustion.
He weighed in at 327 pounds on Thursday morning before leaving team facilities to celebrate and then showed up Friday morning one pound lighter at 326, per Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean. Interim head coach Mike Mularky wanted to offer a token of his appreciation for Warmack’s restraint, so he gave the mammoth lineman a $50 bonus.
“I said, `Well I’m so proud of you (Chance), come on down here — I’m going to give you this money,” Mularkey said. “He came down like Rocky, like ‘I’ve won.’ I said I just need to double check (the weight), and that’s when the clothes started coming off. He just stripped down to nothing to make sure.”
Warmack made sure to let everyone know he enjoyed his fair share of delicious Thanksgiving food, though.
“I ate, I ate good,” Warmack said on Friday after practice, via the team’s official website. “I just didn’t overeat. I had two plates, I just didn’t go super crazy.”
The $50 might not seem like a huge deal when considering how much Warmack makes (he signed a four-year rookie deal in 2013 worth $12.2 million), but it was offered in front of the entire team during Friday morning’s meeting. Being praised like this in front of all his peers — for a guy who is known for his substantial gut — means more than the money does.
Of course, Mularky might want to keep his scale handy in the days to come after Warmack’s final comment on the matter.
“I’ve got some cherry pie waiting for me at the crib,” Warmack said with a smile.
The Titans, at 2-8, are still unbelievably not completely out of it the AFC South, where the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans lead with records of 5-5. Tennessee hosts the Oakland Raiders this Sunday and can make headway in the tepid division with a victory.