GREEN BAY, Wis. -- There was no visual evidence of Eddie Lacy's transformation available on the first day of the Green Bay Packers' offseason program. He wasn’t one of three players available to reporters Monday, and you won’t find any pictures of him in the gallery of 40 photos from the workout posted on the team’s website.
You’ll just have to believe what we’ve seen on social media recently and take everyone else’s word for it: Lacy has lost the kind of weight -- 15-18 pounds, according to one source -- that coach Mike McCarthy demanded when he publicly scolded his running back just days after last season.
A cynic might say Lacy did it to protect his own interests. His poor performance in 2015, whether related to his physical conditioning or not, left him in a precarious position financially. Remember, as a second-round pick, his rookie contract will pay him the relatively low sum of $3,392,412. His average per year of $848,103 makes him the 49th-highest paid running back in the NFL, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
That contract expires after this season, so Lacy needs to be at his very best to convince the Packers -- or another team -- to make a significant investment in him.
Or perhaps Lacy shaped up because McCarthy called him out.
Either way, what's the difference?
What’s good for Lacy is good for the Packers, who need Lacy -- among other key contributors -- to be at his best in order to revive an offense that slipped to the bottom third of the NFL last season.
Lacy’s situation isn’t unprecedented. NFL players can struggle with weight and conditioning. It’s why teams have weekly weigh-ins and can fine players if they don’t make weight, although Lacy at one point said last season that he was not docked any pay.
Whether it was his weight and/or poor conditioning that slowed him down last season can’t be quantified, but if McCarthy thinks it was a problem, then it was something Lacy needed to get fixed. And it appears he’s taken the necessary steps to do so.
There’s a reason Lacy is one of the most popular players in the locker room, and it says plenty about his character that his teammates have stood by him with his career at a crossroads.
“He’s got an infectious personality that everybody enjoys [and] enjoys seeing that big smile across the locker room,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said Monday. “So we’re glad he’s our player.”
Perhaps defensive end Mike Daniels said it best when he acknowledged Lacy “wasn’t his best” last season, but Daniels already has noticed a difference.
“He’s got pride,” Daniels said, “and I think hearing all the negativity might have sparked him up a little bit. ... He came under a lot of fire, so I think he’s a guy that he got put on the spot and he responded.”