See the Colts O-line baring all for ESPN's 'Body Issue'

Call it the BIG reveal.

Three offensive linemen for the Indianapolis Colts -- Todd Herremans, Anthony Castonzo and Jack Mewhort -- are now naked for the world to see.

The trio, Castonzo (6-7 and 311 pounds), Mewhort (6-6 and 312 pounds) and Herremans (6-6, 323 pounds) appear in the online version of ESPN's Body Issue, which went live Monday. The magazine will be on newsstands Friday.

In one photo, the three hold football helmets in just the right places, while otherwise in the buff.

The biggest challenge of being so big?

"When you're this big and pale, you're like a giant solar panel," Mewhort told ESPN. "It's overcast today, but I put on SPF 30 just to be sure. I'd like to throw a little bit more of a bronzed tone on myself; I'd throw a tan on there."

Herremans told the magazine that most people think of offensive linemen as "all just fat slobs."

"Which is what it used to be, kind of," he said. "But now the game has evolved into more fit, athletic offensive linemen. So I would say that Anthony is probably the leanest out of all of us, and I'm probably the chubbiest. Jack is somewhere in the middle."

Castonzo lean? He used to be even leaner.

"There are pictures of me in high school where I literally looked like a capital L -- I had such gigantic feet and I was so tall and so skinny that just standing there, I looked like a capital L," Castonzo told ESPN. "Then I gained a bunch of weight after high school. I was a real late developer."

When the three learned they would be featured in the Body Issue, at least one of them thought he was getting "punked."

Because the assumption -- most people's assumptions -- when they hear a few Indianapolis Colts players are posing naked for the Body Issue?

Andrew Luck. Perhaps, T.Y. Hilton. Maybe newcomer Andre Johnson.

Or some svelte, insanely cut, zero-body-fat athlete, right? Not this time.

"I've always been a big kid," Mewhort told ESPN. "That's why when I got this call I was like, 'They want to see me naked?' I thought I was getting punked."

ESPN's Kenny Mayne was live as the Colts players posed for the camera. Mayne's video is funny, but not necessarily appropriate for all ages.

Strength and vulnerability are the theme of the issue, but of course it's not just these three guys.

The Colts are among 24 athletes featured in the issue, which includes Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper, Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love and Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin.

Others in the issue include DeAndre Jordan, formerly with the Los Angeles Clippers and now with the Dallas Mavericks, New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., two-time WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner, USA women's soccer star Ali Krieger, newly-crowned French Open champion Stan Wawrink and NHL star Tyler Seguin.

This is the seventh annual edition of the Body Issue, which includes photos, interviews and videos of the athletes.

"Our goal is to continue to evolve the issue year after year," ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com editor-in-chief Chad Millman said in a statement. "The ability to capture both the strength and vulnerability of these extraordinary athletes through such powerful images and introspective interviews is incredibly moving."

And if people don't think these Colts linemen look so great revealing all, Mewhort said that's OK.

"Football isn't a beauty pageant," he told ESPN.

Portions of this story were originally published June 23 when ESPN announced its Body Issue athletes.

Follow Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow.