Last season will be remembered as the year Packers running back Eddie Lacy charged into the NFL and took the league by storm on his way to Offensive Rookie of the Year honors and a Pro Bowl nod.
But it’s easy to forget it didn’t start out that way, and not just because Lacy fumbled in his first regular-season game and was sidelined by a concussion on the first carry of his second.
Looking back now, Lacy freely admits he didn’t play right away with the aggressive, take-no-prisoners approach that came to define his game down the stretch in 2013.
“In the beginning, I definitely second-guessed myself a lot,” Lacy said following the spring’s final minicamp practice. “I wanted to be as close to perfect as possible. I didn’t want to mess up. I didn’t want to fumble the ball like I did in the first game. I didn’t want to be the person that the guy I’m supposed to block is hitting the quarterback. I never wanted to be that guy, so I was overly cautious.
Interestingly, Lacy was the one who emphasized those last three words. He’s at a different point now, and he knows it.
As the story points out, Lacy is no longer a rookie, no longer cautious, no longer worried about being perfect. The Packers are hoping that means bigger and better things in 2014. Lacy will likely be the fourth or fifth RB off the board in drafts this summer, and if you can get him mid-to-late first round it could end up being a steal.
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