GREEN BAY -- If Mike Neal's latest injury -- and yes, the Green Bay Packers hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker knows with his injury history, he will have doubters -- only sidetracks him briefly, then this could wind up being the end of his bad luck in that department.
That's because Neal, who was listed at 294 pounds on the Packers' official roster before camp began and was on the sheet at 285 pounds while he stood and watched Friday's training camp-opening practice, said he is actually weighing in at 275 pounds. And he admitted Friday that the never-ending work in the weight room that bulked him up to play defensive line may have been the reason he's been hurt so much.
Neal opened camp on the active/physically unable to perform list with a pulled abdominal muscle, and coach Mike McCarthy said he expects Neal to miss "a couple weeks" as a result.
Nevertheless, the weight loss and pseudo-position change could do Neal a world of good.
"Some people, you just look at them, they're just built completely different," Neal said. "I'd like to say that at 294 I was really explosive, and that's not really good because if you've got all that muscle, you're pulling too much on tendons and stuff like that. And I've had tendon and ligament injuries. I mean, I've looked at it and I know it's one of those things. You're 300 pounds, but you can move a little bit faster than them. But, you're doing a lot of pulling and yanking on stuff that you shouldn't. The loss of weight will definitely be better on my body.
"It's more natural for me to be this weight, I feel better at this weight, I think I utilize my abilities better at this weight. They've given me the option to play around with it and (said), 'Where do you feel comfortable at?' They told me I didn't have to lose any, but if I wanted to, they'd see how I moved. It was up to me, how I felt.""
Jason Wilde wrote: