At the end of Eddie Lacy’s rookie season, Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy sat down with him and laid out what he wanted.

Work on your pass-catching and pass-blocking skills because you’re not coming off the field on third downs, McCarthy told him.

By most measures, Lacy took the directive to heart. He played on more third downs than either backup James Starks or fullback John Kuhn and caught 42 passes for 427 yards and four touchdowns.

He finished second behind Pittsburgh’s Le’Veon Bell in yards per reception (10.1) among backs with at least 20 catches.

After this season, McCarthy didn’t have much to tell Lacy except keep doing what you’re doing.

“I really felt that last year’s conversation was more important than this year’s, the ability to make a huge jump from Year One to Two, being a three-down player, that was something we stressed from Day One, and I thought he delivered,” McCarthy said at the NFL owners meetings this week.

Lacy played in 60.5% of the regular-season snaps his rookie season and 65.4% last season. Those numbers would have been closer if Lacy hadn’t been knocked out of the Washington game after five snaps his rookie season.

via Tom Silverstein of jsonline.com