INDIANAPOLIS -- Eddie Lacy has turned to a popular workout phenomenon as part of his offseason plan to get into the kind of shape Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy wants for his No. 1 running back.
McCarthy confirmed Thursday at the NFL scouting combine that Lacy has consulted with P90X founder Tony Horton since the end of the season. McCarthy had called out Lacy last month and said that Lacy must lose weight.
“Eddie will take care of business,” McCarthy said. “I have great confidence that he will. I think we’ll see definitely a different guy in April, and more importantly in July.”
Since the end of the season, McCarthy fired running backs coach Sam Gash and hired Ben Sirmans to replace him. Meanwhile, Lacy began a program with Horton that is expected to continue well into the offseason. According to a source, Lacy has spent time in Wyoming for several weeks and he's committed to going through the program, which will continue in California and run until the offseason program starts in April.
A spokesperson for Horton declined an interview request saying, “right now they are really laser focused on getting him fit.”
Said McCarthy: “I don’t know the man, so I’m not involved in that.” McCarthy added that Sirmans and strength coach Mark Lovat have been in touch with Lacy. “You want to be involved to a certain level with those types of things. From the program that they’re going through initially, I’m not exactly sure [of the details]. The second part will take him out to California. He’s definitely in a program working out that he hasn’t done in the past.”
McCarthy disputed a report that said that Lacy, who is listed at 5-foot-11 and 234 pounds, was 30 pounds overweight, but declined to reveal what Lacy weighed last season, when he rushed for only 758 yards following consecutive 1,100-yard seasons to start his NFL career.
“The numbers that have been out there about his weight are inaccurate,” McCarthy said. “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 said some of Lacy’s weight gain came from muscle.
“When you do his body compositions, you’re looking at a very muscular individual,” McCarthy said. “What that number is and how you decide, especially after this experience here, that’s what you’ve got to look at. It’s not just like the guy gained a bunch of weight. He’s a lot bigger and stronger man than he was as a rookie. It’s clear in the weight room and everything that he does.”