Lacy plans to switch back to traditional helmet

Eddie Lacy knows the day will come when the Green Bay Packers running back will have to make an adjustment to his hard-nosed running style.

It's just not today.

After suffering his second concussion in a year, Lacy returned to the practice field in full capacity on Thursday with the expectation he'll be ready to go this Sunday against the New York Jets.

Lacy said those two incidents were the only ones in his football career. His first concussion occurred on a hit from Washington defensive back Brandon Meriweather in Week 2 of last season and was by far the worse of the two.

Lacy couldn't remember anything after the play and missed the following week's game in Cincinnati. This time, Lacy said he was coherent and recalls everything that happened following the collision with Seattle defensive back Kam Chancellor.

"I can only be myself," Lacy said. "I was drafted here because of the way I run. It's just what I have to do. Just trying to alter it, make sure I'm still physical but trying to keep the concussions out of it somehow. I'll figure that out along the way. I'm definitely going to still run the way I run."

There is one change Lacy is anticipating, though. Although he still wore the Riddell concussion helmet during practice, Lacy plans to switch back to the previous one he wore during his rookie season.

Lacy stayed in for the next play after trucking Chancellor, but felt dizziness when he tried to execute a spin move.

"I'm going to go back to my old helmet. I liked that one better," Lacy said. "I mean, yeah, they say it's supposed to stop concussions. A few of us have them on the team and I guess just try it out. I tried it out, and I think I'll go back."

When asked if it might have lessened the severity, Lacy added: "I don't know because when I had my old helmet, I didn't get a concussion again after the first one."

Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari, tight end Ryan Taylor and linebacker Jamari Lattimore also switched to Riddell's SpeedFlex helmet, which aims to disperse the energy from a collision to reduce impact on the athlete's head.

The question of durability still follows Lacy and even the second-year back seems a bit conflicted with his running style. On one hand, he admitted he likely will have to change it in the long term, but acknowledged it's also what made him the NFL offensive rookie of the year last season.

When asked both fullback John Kuhn and position coach Sam Gash said there's nothing to change.

"I think I might change it," Lacy said. "Somehow I'll have to figure out a way to change the way I run, but still keep the physical part of it. It's not really something I'm trying to change as of now. I guess as I get older I will figure out how it goes."

-- whodkiew@pressgazettemedia.com and follow him on Twitter @WesHod