Packers say they never asked Eddie Lacy to lose 30 pounds

Green Bay Packers running back Eddie Lacy was overweight last year, and his lackluster performance was proof of his physical condition.

It was reported that the Packers wanted Lacy to commit to losing 30 pounds this offseason to return to a reasonable weight. Now, according to head coach Mike McCarthy, the team never asked Lacy to lose a specific amount of pounds, per Pete Dougherty of Packersnews.com.

“The Green Bay Packers have never, ever asked him to lose 30 pounds. That’s totally out of the realm of what we’re talking about. That’s the facts there. He’ll learn from this.”

McCarthy commented on the running back’s weight while in attendance at the NFL Scouting Combine, per the report. He also made it known after the season that Lacy “cannot play at the weight he did this year.”

Other reports indicated that Tony Horton, who is the creator of P90X, would be training with Lacy to get him in better shape.

Lacy’s numbers dropped severely in 2015 after posting 1,100+ yard seasons in his first two years with Green Bay. Last year, Lacy split more carries with James Starks and as a result received only 187 rushing attempts compared to 246 in 2014. This saw Lacy finish last season with only 758 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. His pace of yards per carry also dropped from 4.6 to 4.1.

At 5-foot-11, Lacy reportedly topped the scale somewhere between 250-260 pounds by the time the Packers were in the playoffs.

Setting the disputed actual number of pounds Lacy needs to use aside, it is clear the running back needs to drop a significant amount of weight to regain his speed and agility moving forward. Retaining his starting job most likely depends on the progress Lacy makes over the upcoming months.