Let me commit node_modules! And automate regular updates. Baam I've got a huge loc count. True, I ha e to argue why I do it and I say for auditing and reliability and maybe win. Once that is through I reformat the code even so slightly (rewrap comments?)

And when I then do actual work in between I lean towards the solution giving me more lines. Longer variable names, more line breaks, ...

There are so many ways to manipulate that, one I know it's a key metric. Sure, it's hard to go from weakest to top contributor that way, but good enough to get away from last spot who is being fired. At least till all play that game. By then the project goes towards a wall.

So yes, for a one off case to identify engineers one should talk to it is a somewhat useful metric, but I would look at more business relevant metrics like amount of closed bugs or similar first (while of course they can be manipulated easily as well ...)