Packers’ Eddie Lacy Didn’t Have Toe Fusion Before Final at Alabama
By Josh Hill
One of the major reasons teams passed on Alabama running back Eddie Lacy in this year’s NFL Draft was a concern about his injured foot. There were reports all season long that Lacy’s big toe had to be fused prior to the Crimson Tide’s championship season, but his surgeon Dr. E. Lyle Cain told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal that’s just not the case.
While there was minor fusing done, it was underneath Lacy’s toenail and had nothing to do with fusing the toe as a whole rather it was meant to clear up some turf toe.
If you fused it completely, it’d give you a stiff big toe and you can’t push off and that’s a big problem,” Dr. Cain said. “In Eddie’s case, he does not have that. His fusion does not affect his big-toe motion. The bottom line is, the fusion he had does not affect his big-toe motion.”
Dr. Cain noted that the window of concern has now passed and that he fully expects Lacy to have a productive NFL career without the toe ever being a problem. To his credit, the toe didn’t cost Lacy a single game last season while still at Alabama. It did, however, cost him draft positioning and that’s something the running back is hoping he can use as motivation.
“I think that I can be that guy,” Lacy said. “I feel that I can fit into the offense perfectly. They won’t have to change anything. I’ll be able to go in there and adapt to it. It’ll keep defenses guessing.”
Green Bay has been absent a run game since Aaron Rodgers took over and started performing at an elite MVP level, so the expectations surrounding Lacy and his new mate in the backfield Jonathan Franklin are beginning to mount.