CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said rookie running back Joe Mixon needed to get back into shape after the first day of rookie minicamp on May 5.

Mixon responded quickly by dropping 10 pounds from his frame over the course of the month.

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis praised rookie Joe Mixon for getting into better condition during the offseason. Aaron Doster/USA TODAY Sports

"I came in at like 238, now I'm about 228. That was that traveling weight, eating good. But once I got that weight down, everything was great," Mixon said.

Mixon had gained several pounds over the spring due to the unusual amount of teams he visited during the draft process. Teams wanted to get to know him better due to an incident that occurred when Mixon was 18.

Mixon, then a freshman at Oklahoma, punched a woman and broke several bones in her face. He spent the months leading up to the draft visiting teams and explaining what happened, coming back to the hotel to work out at midnight, and repeating the process again the next day.

Lewis estimated Mixon visited half of the 32 teams in the league.

“He’s worked hard," Lewis said. "Since the initial rookie camp, from that point on, he’s done a nice job. When you don’t practice and play football, you’ve got to do that to get into that kind of conditioning and shape, particularly as a runner, when so much of what he does is reaction.”

Mixon was listed at 226 pounds when he played for Oklahoma and 228 pounds at Oklahoma's pro day in March.

"I want to play about 223-228, 230 at the most," he said. "Be enough of a load, but still be fast. I'll find a happy medium. Once I figure that out, we'll go from there. Right now, I feel great."