JaMarcus Russell Has Lost 27 Pounds Halfway into NFL Comeback, Says He No Longer Breathes Like ‘Fat Man’ (Video)

JaMarcus Russell continues to make progress in his NFL comeback.

The former No. 1 overall pick has been working hard over the past two months, pushing himself to get back on the football field after two years away. He’s also been losing a lot of his excess weight in the process.

Russell, who says he’s not at the “halfway point” in his comeback, admits he was about 315 pounds when he started working out again at the beginning of February but is now weighing in 27 pounds lighter at a slender 288.

“Through the first couple weeks I could barely make it through the workout,” Russell said during the fifth installment of Bleacher Report’s comeback series. “We go in to do the warm-up and here I am breathing like a fat man. Now I’m breathing pretty good and able to stand up on my own two feet.”

Russell has never been a slim quarterback, and he doesn’t plan to be anytime soon either. When he first entered the league with the Oakland Raiders in 2007, the 6-foot-6 behemoth weighed somewhere north of 260 pounds. Now, Russell is aiming to drop another 20 pounds or so from his current weight and plans to be about 270 pounds by the time of his pro day, which is expected some time later this Spring.

Check out the video of a bearded Russell working out and talking about his experience below.