Giants cornerback Eli Apple is bigger, stronger and faster than he was when he was drafted last year, thanks to the right offseason habits.
Apple told reporters he ate less and worked out more, and the result is he now weighs 204 pounds, five more than he weighed at last year’s Scouting Combine, but is faster because he shed fat while gaining muscle. Apple said he knows he’s faster because the tracking device he wore this week at Organized Team Activities registered him at a higher speed than he ever reached on the field in 2016.
“I’ll be able to move faster and quicker. I’m already faster and just being stronger, being able to tackle more. Just bigger running backs and stuff and being able to press bigger receivers,” Apple said.
Apple said he put junk food to the side when he trained in Arizona, and then he returned to New Jersey, where he eats his mom’s cooking, and asked her not to feed him so much fried chicken. That did the trick, and he expects to be better in 2017 than he was in 2016.