Heavy pressure; NFL players struggle with weight game
To trace the super-sizing of the NFL athlete, I built a comprehensive database of professional football rosters. Though the report focuses on the modern NFL, the database stretches back to the formation of the American Professional Football Conference in 1920. The database was built by digitally scanning thousands of pages of paper records stored in Canton, Ohio at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
STORY AND DOWNLOAD LINKS
Main story: Heavy pressure; NFL players struggle with weight game
Sidebar: Pressure to grow burdened Aaron Gibson
Sidebar: NFL monitors weight gain
Interactive: Historical data chart
Print pages in PDF: Right-click and save-as to download (2.0 MB, 4 pages)
RECOGNITION FOR ‘HEAVY PRESSURE’
Honorable mention, project reporting, 2006 Associated Press Sports Editors contest
Second place, enterprise, 2006 Florida Sports Writers Association contest