Congratulations, Eddie Lacy. You resisted “china food” well enough to make your first of several weight goals in your contract with the Seahawks, by two pounds.
I still don’t like the fact that the Seahawks included the provision in his deal.
Professional athletes shouldn’t need to have a specific cash inducement to hit a specific weight. When their livelihood hinges in part on how large or small their bodies are, the athletes should be able to conform to expectations without an external inducement.
When the weight targets come during the season, Lacy will be tempted to put that external inducment ($55,000 apiece) ahead of proper nourishment and focus on what his primary objective should be once September arrives: Doing whatever he has to do to be ready to win football games. The Seahawks presumably would rather have Lacy at a pound or two over his limit and fully prepared to play instead of having him at a specific number on the scale but drained by the last-minute efforts to get there.
Also problematic, if Lacy ever fails to make weight: The decision to publicly declare on Monday that he made the first goal. Although there’s a chance the outcomes will leak regardless of whether they’re announced, it’s a potentially clumsy precedent if Lacy, who had to be at 255 today, fails to get to 250 in August or 245 in September, October, November, and December.
Regardless, he has to lose three pounds in the next three months, another five after that, and then stay at 245 throughout the season. He has $275,000 riding on it.
