Eddie Lacy came into the 2015 NFL season with a goal of rushing for 1,000 yards in his first three seasons in the league. Unfortunately, he seemingly forgot that he had to keep himself in shape throughout the offseason. He looked out of shape and without being offensive he quite simply looked fat.
His weight issues were brought up throughout the entire season and Mike McCarthy confirmed what everyone thought in his press conference following the conclusion of the Packers’ season. He made a very pointed remark that Lacy needed to get his weight under control. McCarthy seems to be very confident that his running back got the message and will fix the weight issues.
“Everybody’s accountable to their area, and the position coach is ultimately accountable for the performance and the training of their players,” McCarthy said Thursday. “But Eddie Lacy’s conditioning and so forth is something I have great confidence will improve or is improving as we speak, and he’ll learn from his performance last season.”
Lacy ended up finishing the season with just 758 yards and three touchdowns on 187 carries.
Green Bay’s offense had a rough year and they want everyone back at full health and in the best shape possible to turn those struggles around in 2016. Aaron Rodgers can’t power his team to Super Bowl wins by himself, but it has been obvious over the past three seasons that he plays at another level when Lacy is on-the-field.
At just 25 years old, Lacy is without question capable of getting things under control. He doesn’t want to go down as a bust that busted because of being fat. Lacy had a great work ethic when he first came into the league, but seemed to relax after his first two season of success.
It will be intriguing to see what kind of offseason workout routine he goes with. He has been rumored to be preparing to work out with P90X creator Tony Horton. That move would be a very good one and would help Lacy get things under control much quicker.
Expect to see him come back in 2016 with a much better weight and return to being a dominant running back. There is a chance that the Packers will sign Matt Forte in free agency, which should push Lacy even more to prove that the Packers don’t have to go elsewhere for production at the running back position.
