“That was something I wanted to do, I just wanted that extra little bit of weight and I told my coach that. He was like, ‘Yeah, that’s fine.’ He was all for it.”

Fackrell changed his offseason training regiment to include more heavy lifting like deadlifts and squats. He currently weighs 255 pounds compared to the 245 he was listed at last season. He believes the added weight will help him in the trenches. His weight, however, wasn’t the only thing Fackrell focused on in the offseason. He also wanted to give his body plenty of time to recover from the grind of an NFL season.

“Coming in as a rookie, you don’t have a break. I heard that, too, coming in your rookie year is your hardest year because you are training before your senior year of college. You go from college straight into training for the (NFL) combine or you have the Senior Bowl or whatever it may be,” Fackrell said. “So it’s nonstop for almost two straight years. Getting your body right after that time after the season is huge and was huge for me. I feel a lot better physically now coming into this offseason, as well as mentally. I feel a lot better (about the) the playbook.”

It shows, as Fackrell turned plenty of heads during OTAs and minicamp.