Brett Favre may have received all of the attention, but he is not the only Packers player with a noticeably slimmer figure.
Both running back Najeh Davenport and defensive end Aaron Kampman have shed serious weight.
Davenport, who measured in at 265 pounds during the first organized team activity, now weighs 243. He dropped the pounds through playing offseason basketball at the YMCA in Howard, Wis., and visiting Jenny Craig, Inc. in Green Bay for a month.
He lost the weight so that he could become a quicker back with greater endurance, enhancing his size-speed combination.
"I've got a third gear," Davenport said. "I'm still one of the biggest backs in the league - weight wise. You've got Jerome Bettis, and he's like 250, but he's not as fast as me."
Upon his first visit, the staff there told him that he must exercise for 30 minutes a day.
"I'm going to try," he joked.
Davenport not only increased his cardio but ingested more vegetables and pastas under the supervision of the Jenny Craig staff.
Kampman also changed his diet, eliminating his late-night snack and adding protein and fiber, allowing him to drop from 282 to 272 pounds.
"I continued to eat right," he said. "It takes a lot of planning of what goes into my body."
He dropped the weight to better fit defensive coordinator Jim Bates' scheme, which will have the defensive ends lined up wide and at an angle toward the line of scrimmage. Kampman will no longer need the extra bulk to match up head on against bigger offensive linemen.
Coach Mike Sherman did not mandate Davenport lose that much weight. He told him to weigh 250. In fact Sherman was concerned that dipping into the 230 to 240-range would rob him of his physical, pounding presence that helped him average 5.1 yards in 2004.
"I assured them I'd be alright," he said.
Agent Drew Rosenhaus, who has encouraged several of his clients to push for a new contract, represents Davenport. Although Davenport is in the last year of his contract, he did not fight for a raise or threaten to hold out of training camp.
"I haven't really done anything yet," he said. "I've got to make a big statement to Green Bay and the rest of the league."
Perhaps his championing of Jenny Craig will land him a new endorsement deal, augmenting his income.
"I'm plugging 'em right now," he said. "So holla at me, Jenny Craig."
