Rex Ryan Challenges Kris Jenkins and Damien Woody To Weight Loss Battle

With Tony Romo’s ↵scheduled appearance on tonight’s episode of The Biggest Loser, Rex Ryan’s recent lap band surgery and LenDale White’s physical transformation of a year ago, the NFL has been associated with dieting like never before. Given the league’s efforts to get kids to get off their duff and run around outside, this may not strike them as the worst thing in the world.↵↵Building on that trend, Ryan is laying down a weight loss challenge to Jets DT Kris Jenkins and OT Damien Woody, in what the team is cheekily calling “The Biggest Winner”.↵

↵↵⇥Three key Jets — head coach Rex Ryan, defensive tackle Kris Jenkins and offensive tackle Damien Woody — began a friendly competition today that will run through Friday, July 30. The goal is to see which of the three can lose the most weight in the next 11 weeks, right up to the start of training camp. ↵⇥↵⇥“I would say something like ‘Get your popcorn ready,’ but we don’t need to be eating popcorn for this,” said Woody. “I don’t have any trash-talking right now. This is an idea that Coach Ryan thought about and it’s a great idea. We’re going to see who the best man is.”↵⇥

↵↵↵Before Jets fans panic about the possibility that one of the players might go overboard and lose too much weight, the team has already said that strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi and his staff will be closely monitoring all involved. Because Ryan has already lost over 30 pounds, you could argue it might be more difficult for him to shed even more weight as quickly as the other two contestants. At the same time, he can lose more weight without worrying about a vital loss of the strength necessary for playing football, so that could put the coach at a distinct advantage in this competition.↵

↵↵Either way, it looks like we might get quite the lissome bunch by the time Hard Knocks airs this summer.↵

↵↵(H/T to Pro Football Talk)↵

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