The Seattle Seahawks now have a former Pro Bowl running back to team up with youngsters Thomas Rawls and C.J. Prosise on the ground.
Seattle signed veteran Eddie Lacy on Tuesday, choosing the ultra-enigmatic figure over future Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson.
It was a rather interesting move for a Seahawks team that’s been all over the veteran running back market in free agency. And while Lacy himself fits the bill as a down-hill runner, concerns about his conditioning and weight have already come up.
RB Eddie Lacy visited Sea (his new team), Minn and GB in the last wk. For one of the three teams Lacy weighed 267. Listed last year at 234.
— Bob McGinn (@BobMcGinn) March 14, 2017
To put this into perspective, Pro Bowl fullback Mike Tolbert, now of the Buffalo Bills, weighs just 243 pounds. According to the report, Lacy’s weight is up an astounding 33 pounds from last season.
There’s surely a few different things to look at here.
Lacy missed all but five games last season due to an ankle injury. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that his added weight could be a detriment to the running back’s ability to stay healthy.
Remember, Lacy’s weight was often a point of contention between himself and the Packers’ brass during his career in Green Bay (more on that here).
The good news for Seattle is that its new running back has several months to get back into game shape. Whether that happens is anyone’s guess. But handing $3 million guaranteed to a near 270-pound running back with a history of injuries and conditioning issues surely is a risky move.