MJG Won't Be Starting This Year

When it comes to finding out who's working hard in the offseason, the scales never lie.  Last year we knew Kearse was in trouble when he showed up weighing something like a buck eighty in mini-camps and Trotter's inability to shed weight last summer foreshadowed his eventual release.

This year's guy who isn't at the right weight is Max Jean-Gilles.  The competition for the LG spot is a nice story, but if you're not in shape, you're not winning the job:

But Jean-Gilles also has struggled to control his weight for most of his Eagles career. He seemed a little embarrassed to admit that he checked in Friday at 365 pounds -- 10 pounds more than his ideal weight.

At the end of Monday's practice, the entire team participated in a fitness drill that involves intense running and change-of-direction technique -- like "suicides" in basketball.

Jean-Gilles still was feeling the effects about 25 minutes afterward.

So now he's calling 355 his "ideal" weight.  That's not what he said last year:

Whatever the future brings, MJG is taking the necessary steps to be the best he can be. Jean-Gilles has dropped 15 pounds in the off-season, and is down to 355 pounds. He has another 10 lll-bees to go, he says.

I still like the guy as a player and I hope he gets this weight stuff straightened out, but with Herremans working like a maniac to keep his job and MJG struggling to keep off the weight, I don't see much of a change coming this year.