AP

Last year Packers running back Eddie Lacy started his rookie season slowly but finished as one of the best backs in football. This year, the Packers think he can be the best back in football.

Packers running backs coach Sam Gash says there’s no question that Lacy can lead the league in rushing, and Gash even thinks Lacy may end up leading the league in total yards from scrimmage.

“Without a doubt,” Gash told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “He has the capability of being the leading rusher and maybe even combined yards if he catches a lot of balls. I absolutely do think that. I think he’s a bell cow. He’s a big guy, and he’s physical.”

In 2013, Philadelphia’s LeSean McCoy led the league in rushing yards with 1,607 and scrimmage yards with 2,146. Lacy was eighth in rushing yards with 1,178, and 14th in yards from scrimmage with 1,435. That’s a big gap, but then again Lacy was a rookie who only ran for 51 yards in the first three weeks of last season. If Lacy plays for 16 games like he played down the stretch last year, he could lead the league in rushing.

And the mere fact that the Packers expect that much of Lacy is a good sign for their offense. In Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay already has one of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks. If Lacy proves himself to be the NFL’s top runner, that should frighten every defensive coordinator on the Packers’ schedule.