Seattle Seahawks: Eddie Lacy’s weight trivial if offensive line bombs again
Much has been made of the weight clause in Eddie Lacy’s contract with the Seattle Seahawks, but it’s trivial if the offensive line doesn’t improve.
Let he (or she) who hasn’t made a joke about Eddie Lacy’s weight step forward and be a king among men. Even prior to this offseason during his tenure with the Green Bay Packers, jokes about the running back’s weight were prevalent. However, they kicked into high gear when he signed with the Seattle Seahawks in free agency.
The reason that the fun-poking ramped up then had to do with the deal itself. As part of his contract, Lacy has a weight clause and incentives based around that. The gist of that part of his contract is that he must be at a certain weight by certain dates in the offseason. This again comes into the public eye as, according to Sheil Kapadia of ESPN, Lacy must be at 250 pounds by Monday, June 12 to receive his next bonus.
It’s no wonder why the Seahawks have this as part of Lacy’s deal. When engaged, healthy and in shape, the Alabama product has been a bull in the run game. For an offense looking to light a spark, the thought is that a fitter version of Lacy could be the guy to help with that.
That makes sense, in theory at least. However, where it falls apart is the fact that Lacy, Thomas Rawls or any other back doesn’t matter in the slightest if the Seattle offensive line continues to stink up the joint.
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In the 2016 season, the Seahawks offensive line was putrid overall. That includes an abysmal showing in the run game. Per Football Outsiders, Seattle’s line ranked 26th in the league in Adjusted Line Yards, which attributes running back success to the offensive line. What’s more, the Seahawks were 30th in the NFL in stuff percentage, seeing a shocking 23 percent of their runs stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage.
When you look at the running backs in Seattle last season, this rings true. Christine Michael and Thomas Rawls were the only players to notch more than 100 carries in 2016. Michael averaged just 4.0 yards per carry, which is still better than Rawls’ 3.2 yards per tote.
Outside of Justin Britt at center, the Seahawks were simply deficient across the offensive line. And frankly, they’ve done little to get better. Sure, they took Ethan Pocic in the second round, but they are still struggling to figure out where to put him because they have such a need up front. What’s more, they signed Luke Joeckel, a first-round bust to this point in his career.
Perhaps putting Pocic at tackle and Joeckel being healthy will improve the offensive line. Even marginal progression would be noticeable for this unit. However, it’s clearly an area where the Seahawks have to improve to have the success they want to.
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Ultimately, though, they can keep talking about Lacy and his weight and whatever else about the running back depth chart. It’s all pointless if they don’t have even a decent unit leading the way. And unless a drastic turnaround is coming, that doesn’t seem to be the case.