People were talking about Eddie Lacy's weight before he ever played a down in the NFL. But for all that considerable chatter about the running back's size, we never once heard the Packers come out and acknowledge there was an issue.
Until Monday.
"He's got a lot of work to do," coach Mike McCarthy said on Monday. "His offseason last year was not good enough and he never recovered from it. He cannot play at the weight he played at this year."
The Packers' problems on offense were manifold in 2015, but Lacy's inability to play at his expected level complicated matters. Lacy appeared in 15 games (12 starts) but finished with just 187 carries, far off the workload of his first two seasons. He scored just three rushing touchdowns, a far cry from the 20 scores he piled up over the course of his previous two seasons.
Lacy added 24 carries for 152 yards in two postseason contests, including a career-high 61-yard rumble against the Cardinals on Saturday night. But he had just 28 yards on his other 11 carries in Arizona, a performance emblematic of a frustrating season.
We knew Lacy was in McCarthy's dog house when the pedestrian James Starks moved to the top of the running back depth chart for stretches this season. Starks is set to become a free agent, opening the door for Lacy to become the unquestioned primary back in Green Bay.
But McCarthy's comments on Monday tells us nothing will be handed to Lacy. He'll have to work -- much harder than he did last offseason.
