'Game of Thrones' Season 4's Gregor 'The Mountain' Clegane actor was almost an NFL player on the Indianapolis Colts! [PHOTOS]

By Jon Niles | May 20, 2014 12:27 PM EDT

Hafthor Bjornsson made his debut on this week's season four episode of HBO's Game of Thrones as Gregor "The Mountain That Rides" Clegane, but did you know he was almost drafted as an NFL player last year? The 6'9", 419-pound weightlifting champion was reportedly approached by the Indianapolis Colts to join the squad!

"Off/Def Lineman,so many 6-3 to 6-7..320-365 lbs/Big,Physical and Nasty! Speaking of size/strength..GM Grig's just might sign 'The Icelander'," Colts owner Jim Irsay tweeted last year, almost one year prior to Bjornsson's debut on HBO.

Here is the actual Twitter post:

Here's a bit of backstory on the towering muscle-man thanks to For The Win:

When he's not fighting shirtless in King's Landing, Björnsson is a strongman, competing in the World's Strongest Man events that used to be a staple of daytime ESPN2. In 2014, Björnssonj was 0.44 seconds away from winning the overall competition and settled for second place. He finished third place in 2012 and 2013.

Though Sunday night's GoT director used some standard camera tricks to make Björnsson bigger than he appears. He stands 6-foot-9, weighs over 400 pounds and consumes 10,000 calories per day while training.

You can also check out some photos taken from Bjornsson's personal Instagram page featuring some Game of Thrones set images as well as other familiar faces:





Would you have liked to see "The Mountain" on the field with the rest of the Colts or are you happy that Bjornsson has jumped into the acting world instead? Let us know in the comments section below!

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