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In 2012, the Green Bay Packers had what most fans of the other 31 NFL teams would consider a very good year. Finishing 11-5 and winning a playoff game is nothing to sneeze at. And they did this on the arm of quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The running game on the other hand was quite pedestrian ranking 20th in the league and an even more pedestrian 3.9 yards per carry. Regardless of how great your team’s quarterback is, a more viable running game makes it even better.
So when the 25th pick in the Rant Sports 2013 NFL Mock Draft rolled around, there were really two ways the Packers could approach it. They could bolster their offensive line, which would likely in turn improve the running game with the players they currently have on the roster, or they could add a young running back. For this exercise the Packers chose the young running back with Alabama running back Eddie Lacy.
Lacy is a tremendous mix of size and speed would certainly be enticing to a team at the end of the first lacking in the run game. There have been some questions about Lacy’s conditioning and work ethic based on offseason workouts, but all you have to do is put on the film and see Lacy can play. In the Packers offense, they call on their backs to be able to catch the football out of the backfield and Lacy has surprisingly soft hands and is able to get the open field where he is an absolute terror to bring down.
This pick might seem like a reach to some, but when you are picking toward the end of the round like this it’s easy to go after the guy you think can impact your team the best, and for the Packers Lacy would almost certainly be that guy.
At No. 27, the Houston Texans select…
Curt covers the Pittsburgh Steelers, the NFL draft, and college football for Rant Sports. Connect with Curt on Twitter @nfldraftboard.
