GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Eddie Lacy isn’t closing the door on a return to the Green Bay Packers.
And it doesn’t sound like the Packers are, either.
“Talking to my agent, the Packers have been very vocal about having me back there,” Lacy said in an interview on Adam Schefter’s "Know Them From Adam" podcast that will be available on Tuesday.
The full interview with Lacy can be heard here.
Lacy, who is coming off ankle surgery that limited him to just five games last season, will be an unrestricted free agent if he doesn’t re-sign with the Packers before March 9.
“I’m trying not to think about all of that right now,” Lacy said. “I’m just trying to make sure whether I end up in Green Bay or somewhere, I’m in the best shape or I’m in the best position I can be in personally, so when it’s time for me to contribute to whatever team that it is that they’re getting 100 percent of me.”
Lacy injured his left ankle in the Oct. 9 game against the Giants. He tried to play the following week against the Cowboys and despite rushing for 65 yards on a season-high 17 carries, he could not finish the game.
For the first time, Lacy revealed the details of his injury and subsequent surgery, which was performed by Dr. Robert Anderson of Charlotte, North Carolina. Anderson, incidentally, is expected to join Packers team physician Dr. Pat McKenzie in Green Bay soon.
“I messed up my deltoid and widened the bone on my ankle, so I had to get two screws, two wires and a plate to fix it because I messed up my deltoid ligament,” Lacy said. “That’s the longest thing to heal.”
Lacy has been working out at his alma mater, the University of Alabama. Last week, he posted a video of him running in a rehab pool but told Schefter he expects to be able to run on regular surfaces soon, perhaps as soon as he would make free-agent visits.
“My healing process is 4-6 months, on the 26th [of February] it [was] the fourth month,” Lacy said. “I’m going to try and go out and run, but if it’s not comfortable then I’m just going to continue doing what I’ve been doing. But by April, whenever I have to report, I should be able to go out and do everything.”
The Packers have only one halfback under contract for next season, and it’s converted receiver Ty Montgomery. They released veteran running back James Starks earlier this month.
Lacy's agent, Pat Dye Jr., likely will meet with the Packers at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis this week.
The website Spotrac estimated that Lacy’s market value in free agency would be $2.8 million per season. That would seem to be a reasonable price for the Packers, who gave Starks a two-year, $6 million contract last offseason.