Eddie Lacy leaves town without a deal with Vikings

Eddie Lacy visited the Vikings today but left town without a deal.

Lacy, the bruising former Packers running back, flew into MSP last night and met with the Vikings today. The team announced a little after 5 p.m. that his free-agent visit had concluded. Lacy, who has also met with the Seahawks, will reportedly “visit” his former team over in Green Bay next.

Lacy, a second-round pick in 2013, rushed for 2,317 yards and 20 touchdowns in his first two seasons with the Packers and made the Pro Bowl as a rookie. He rushed for 758 yards in 2015 and only 360 yards in 2016 before suffering a season-ending ankle injury that required surgery.

But Lacy could make sense for the Vikings, who have only three running backs on their 90-man roster and could soon officially lose Adrian Peterson, who was supposed to visit the Seahawks today.

While Lacy is listed, perhaps generously, at 235 pounds and is pigeonholed as a plodding between-the-tackles runner, he has been an effective back out of the shotgun, averaging 4.5 yards per attempt from that formation in four NFL seasons. He can be useful in the passing game, too.

So he might make sense in offensive coordinators Pat Shurmur’s attack if the Vikings are serious about signing him and not just using a visit from Lacy to put pressure on Peterson to come back for relative pennies.

Even if they do sign Lacy or re-sign Peterson, the Vikings are still expected to use one of their eight draft picks on a back in this “historic” class.