The St. Louis Rams have changed their tune since prescribing more carries to second-year running back Zac Stacy in February and March.
Third-round draft pick Tre Mason surprisingly revealed last month that he is competing with Stacy for the starting job.
Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer confirmed Wednesday, via ESPN.com's Nick Wagoner, that Stacy isn't guaranteed to open the season as the lead back.
"Well right now, competition is for who's the starter," Schottenheimer said. "We're just going to let them all roll and see what happens.
"Zac's obviously a really, really good player, but we're going to create competition for all the guys," Schottenheimer continued. "...We know we have a good stable group of backs and they all have different skill sets, which we'll try to use throughout the course of the year."
Make no mistake, Stacy is the heavy favorite to start after averaging nearly 20 carries per game as the offensive focal point in his rookie season.
We can safely chalk this one up to another coach paying offseason homage to the competition mantra. The Rams want Mason, Benny Cunningham and Isaiah Pead to make sure Stacy doesn't take anything for granted.
Unless Mason plays lights-out in preseason action, though, Stacy is in line for a hefty workload once again.
In the latest edition of the "Around The League Podcast," the heroes discuss which teams "realistically" have no shot at winning the Super Bowl this season.