Running back Eddie Lacy had numerous incentives placed in his contract with the Seattle Seahawks that gave him benchmarks to hit this season.
Lacy has managed to successfully reach his first goal with the team and has been able to work in a limited role during OTAs while recovering from ankle surgery.
Ultimately, Lacy views the incentives as strong encouragement.
“As a competitor you want to be challenged,” Lacy said on Friday. “It’s a positive challenge. At the end of the day it helps me personally, too. So why not?”
“I have a great support group behind me from coaches to players to the nutrition team. So everybody’s positive, which helps me because I know I have a group of people behind me pushing me so it’s all working out, it’s all going great. I’ve just got to continue to go that way.”
Lacy said it’s pretty simple to make the adjustments needed to keep his weight in check.
“What kinds of things? Eating a lot,” Lacy said of what he needed to change. “I’m from Louisiana. I like good food. Gotta change it.”
Head coach Pete Carroll has said he wants Lacy to play big in order to give Seattle a bruising presence in the backfield they’ve lacked since the retirement of Marshawn Lynch. However, there is a point that “big” becomes detrimental to performance. Seattle believes that number is 245 pounds, which is his target weight throughout the regular season.