GREEN BAY — After a five-sack season and playing in all 16 games for the first time in his career in 2013 — leading to a two-year, $8 million contract this offseason — it's clear Mike Neal has a future in the NFL.

But if the Green Bay Packers outside linebacker/defensive end is looking for another business opportunity, perhaps he could help the rest of us normal humans in the weight-loss department.

A year after showing up at camp having lost 20 pounds in order to play that hybrid linebacker/lineman position, Neal is back for camp having shed more weight. He said Monday he's at 263 pounds, which is 31 pounds lighter than the 294 pounds he was listed at as a rookie second-round pick from Purdue in 2010.

In fact, the 27-year-old Neal said Monday that he hasn't been this light since he was, well, just a kid.

"I can be honest with you. I can't remember the last time I stepped on the scale and seen that since I was going to college," he said.

While Neal has yet to practice because of a lingering abdominal muscle injury that landed him on the physically unable to perform list to start camp, the reason he shed more weight was his desire to get faster this season. Neal, who was listed at 285 pounds last season on the roster, said he trained with Jason Riley at the Performance Compund in Tampa, Fla., as he has every offseason since preparing there for the draft in 2010.

"For me, I think naturally what you're seeing now is probably naturally where my body is at," Neal said. "When you get to college, what's the one thing they preach? We have to get you bigger. We have to get you bigger.

"Now my body is just kind of settling around 270 where it's probably naturally built that."

Neal acknowledged last season that some of his injury problems early in his career might be caused by him carrying more weight than his body was designed to carry. Perhaps this extreme weight loss makeover will even further extend his career.

For now, though, he just wants to start practicing, which could happen later this week.

"It's hard for me to wake up every single day and come to work and be happy when I can't go on the field. This is what you do. This is your livelihood," Neal said. "This is how you put food on the table. I know it sounds cliché but I'm a competitor. I get goose bumps talking about it. I'm kind of pissed about it, but what can you do? I've been through this."

Jason Wilde  wrote: