Eddie Lacy is no longer a member of the Green Bay Packers, and his waistline is no more their concern.
According to his agency, SportsTrust Advisors, which tweeted the news Tuesday morning, Lacy has agreed to terms on a one-year contract with the Seattle Seahawks. ESPN confirmed the report, adding that the running back’s new deal is worth $5.55 million, with $3 million fully guaranteed. And thus the Packers' wild start to free agency continues.
Lacy, 26, spent four up-and-down seasons in Green Bay. A second-round draft pick out of Alabama in 2013, he won the NFL’s Rookie of the Year award and notched back-to-back 1,110-yard seasons to begin his career. But Lacy’s weight was a problem the last couple of years, ostensibly contributing to injuries and ineffectiveness. He only rushed for 758 yards in 2015, and after the season head coach Mike McCarthy said publicly that Lacy needed to get in better shape. Following a much-hyped offseason of P90X workouts, Lacy appeared to be slimmer and fitter at training camp in 2016, and he got off to a strong start.
He was averaging 5.1 yards per carry through the Packers’ first five games, but then suffered a severe ankle injury in Week 6 that required surgery and ultimately landed him on season-ending injured reserve. Combined with the health issues of backup James Starks, Green Bay lacked a legitimate running game, and offensive balance, for much of the year. Eventually, wide receiver Ty Montgomery was moved to running back, a position at which he showed promise and will remain moving forward.
After posting image-positive rehab videos, visiting the Minnesota Vikings and negotiating with the Packers, Lacy decided to sign with Seattle. The Seahawks hope Lacy’s physical, tackle-breaking style boosts their rushing attack, which ranked 24th last season at just 3.83 yards per carry. He’ll team with incumbent starter Thomas Rawls, who missed seven games last year due to injury, but Lacy is expected to carry the load.
We’ve had some good fun with Lacy’s gut the last couple of years – and, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he weighed 267 pounds at one of his free-agent visits – but he still has huge upside and can make a hefty impact when he’s healthy and in shape. Happy trails and bon appetit, Eddie. We'll miss scrutinizing your photos and videos and asking you roundabout locker-room questions to determine whether or not you're fat.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
