Fansided

Dontari Poe believes weight won’t be issue

By David Austin Bumpus

Sep 1, 2016; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs nose tackle Dontari Poe (92) high fives young fans before the game against the Green Bay Packers at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs won 17-7. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 1, 2016; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs nose tackle Dontari Poe (92) high fives young fans before the game against the Green Bay Packers at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs won 17-7. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dontari Poe has a big financial incentive to make weight in his new deal with the Atlanta Falcons, but thinks he’ll be fine making his money.

After signing with the NFC champion Atlanta Falcons a few months ago, Dontari Poe will have to pay extra close attention to his weight if he wants to get the most out of his time in Georgia financially.

The defensive tackle who doubled as an offensive threat for the Kansas City Chiefs the past few seasons signed a one-year deal with the Falcons for $8 million, and has some incentives in his deal based on if he can get his weight down.

Poe addressed the issue with reporters who asked if his weight cut would be an issue, and said he believed he had it in the bag at this point.

“Oh, it’s pretty smooth,” Poe said after a recent Falcons OTA. “I’m pretty much where I need to be. So as long as I keep doing that, I’ll be all right.”

Poe joined the Falcons at 340 pounds, and needs to still be at that weight by June 13 for the start of mandatory minicamp. He reportedly weighed 346 pounds with the Kansas City Chiefs, so apparently he had no issue getting down to the first weight limit for the checkpoint in two weeks.

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The next incentive gives him a weight limit of 330 pounds for the first day of training camp in July, along with two checkups of the same limit in September and November. If he hits all of them, he gets a total of $500,000, split up into the four $125,000 intervals.

Poe will be needed to enhance an already-solid defensive line in Atlanta, which gave the New England Patriots fits early on in Super Bowl 51, and is surely focusing on his play more than his weight. The $500,000, however, will surely be weighing on his mind (no pun intended) throughout training camp.

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