WHEN MOST NFL fans get a chance to watch DK Metcalf take the field, they probably don’t feel like they’d have too much in common with the 26-year-old superstar. At 6’4” and 235 pounds, Metcalf is what football fans would universally agree to call a physical specimen. Where he stands out, though, is that he’s not just tall, jacked, and fast (he ran a 4.33 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine back in 2019)—he backs it up on the field with his play, too. Metcalf has topped 900 yards in all five of his pro seasons so far, and it still feels like his best football is ahead of him.

But while being interviewed for a new Men’s Health cover story, Metcalf was doing something almost everyone else tends to do from time to time—eating french fries.

“It’s vacation,” he says. “So I’m having french fries. I’ll describe it as this: I’m a fat-ass at heart. If I didn’t play football, I would not care about my body.”

Despite Metcalf’s unexpected eating habits—in addition to his love for fries, he’s previously said that he eats “three to four bags of candy” per day—his training regimen and workout routine clearly pay dividends. And even though he hasn’t played with a superstar-level QB since Russell Wilson departed Seattle following the 2021 season, Metcalf has continued to produce and produce and produce, thanks in part to his hard work both on and off the field; he’s made the Pro Bowl twice already.

As the NFL has embraced smaller, faster wide receivers, Metcalf is determined to prove that there’s still more than enough space for the Megatron-sized beasts as well. “The one thing you can’t coach is how to be fast,” he says. “I’m not trying to fit in with nobody’s mentality. I’m gonna be a total football player.”

And for him, part of getting there includes—that’s right—being a little bit of a “fat-ass at heart.”