I remember living outside DC in the late ‘80s, during the heyday of Hogmania with the Redskins, and seeing some of them in bars around town (gotta love walking into a restaurant during the off-season and seeing R.C. Thielmann and Donny Warren slamming beers at the bar...at lunch!). They were big, but they weren’t freakish like the players today. The biggest of the Hogs was left tackle Joe Jacoby, at around 6’6”, 305. None of the rest of them were over 300 pounds. Hell, Jeff Bostic wasn’t much over 250, IIRC, and he played forever in the league at guard and center. Those guys were the dominant offensive line in the league for several years in the ‘80s, and nowadays, they’d ALL, except for Jacoby, be considered “undersized.” And 6’6” and 305 is nothing to even blink at in the modern NFL.
I went to college with Charles Haley. Again, a big guy in amazing physical condition, but not freakish. He played linebacker at our I-AA school at about 230-240, and didn’t get all that much bigger when he went to the 49ers and later the Cowboys at defensive end. I’d be surprised nowadays if a 250-pound defensive end, even somebody with Haley’s crazy speed and quickness, could survive for long in the NFL.
}:-)4
Now did alot of these guys juice in High School and College? Yes, but size alone doesn't really show all that much. 30 lbs in a year might though.