FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EDGAR BENNETT NAMED DIRECTOR OF PLAYER PROGRAMS FOR PACKERS

Edgar Bennett, one of the most productive running backs in Green Bay Packers history as a player, has rejoined the team as director of player programs, GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman announced today.

Bennett, 32, succeeds Gill Byrd, who resigned March 23 after serving as executive director of player programs and community affairs since March of 1999.

"With Gill Byrd resigning to seek other opportunities and challenges, he certainly left some big shoes to fill," Sherman said. "Of all the candidates I considered for the job of Director of Player Programs, I just felt that Edgar Bennett best fits our needs at this time. He is someone who has familiarity with most of our players, a genuine respect for the Packers organization and the city of Green Bay, and also a keen understanding of what it takes to win a championship. I am confident he will deliver an immediate impact on our younger players, future draft picks, and veterans as well. I am excited to get someone of Edgar's work ethic and character on board."

From the club standpoint, the Player Programs department functions as the hub for a wide range of programs designed to meet the needs of the players and their families in today’s National Football League, providing a framework of assistance within which players and their immediate family members can address the pressures created by daily life and complicated by the demands of playing professional football.

Bennett, earlier the Packers’ fourth-round draft selection in 1992, is the eighth-ranking rusher in Green Bay’s 80-year NFL history, the former Florida State athlete having gained 3,353 yards over his five seasons in green and gold (1992-96). En route, he in 1995 became only the sixth player in team annals to rush for 1,000 yards in a season (1,067) and the first Packer to do so since Terdell Middleton in 1978.

Bennett also ranks fifth in Packers history in the production of combined rushing and receiving yards by a running back with 5,273, and holds the team’s single-season record for receptions by a running back with 78, set in 1994.

Along the way, the 6-foot, 215-pound Jacksonville, Fla., native played a key role in the Packers’ drive to Super Bowl XXXI honors in 1996, leading the team in rushing with 899 yards and adding 31 pass receptions.

Bennett’s Packers career ended the following July when he suffered a torn Achilles tendon in Green Bay’s opening preseason game against Miami and he was sidelined for the 1997 season. After then Head Coach Mike Holmgren opted to make Dorsey Levens the team’s featured running back the following year, Bennett signed on with the Chicago Bears in February of 1998 and he went on to lead the Bears in rushing with 611 yards that season. He subsequently was a backup to Curtis Enis in 1999 and was out of football in 2000 after being released by Chicago in February.

Bennett since has been residing in Jacksonville, where he has been managing a commercial cleaning company that he and his brother, Kevin, launched in 1997.

Formally Edgar Bennett III, he is married to the former Mindy Woldt of Green Bay and they have two children - a son, Edgar Bennett IV, born 5/22/95, and a daughter, Elyse Morgan, born 12/27/99.

Bennett is scheduled to begin his new duties next Monday, April 16.