Seahawks likely to place Rashad Penny on IR with calf injury

Seahawks running back Rashad Penny is likely to be sidelined on IR, a troubling development for the chronically-injured player. 

Although an injury is a depressing development for any player, it isn’t exactly a surprising one for Seahawks running back Rashad Penny.

Widely regarded as a first-round bust, the 27th overall pick from the 2018 NFL Draft has experienced major injuries in 2018, 2019 and now 2021.

According to Ian Rapoport, Penny re-aggravated a calf injury in his Week 1 game versus the Indianapolis Colts and may be sidelined once again for a stint on IR.

Frustrating to Seahawks fans and fantasy managers alike, Penny has garnered the reputation of an injury-prone running back in a constant cycle of injury and recovery.

Seahawks: Rashaad Penny’s injury woes continue

It all started in August 2018, when Penny broke the pointer finger on his left hand during practice. He was out again in December of that year, missing two games due to a knee injury.

Penny was hurt again in September 2019, missing three total games as a result of a thigh injury. In early December of that year, he tore his ACL and was out for the rest of the season.

2020 wasn’t much better for Penny: he played in three games, rushing for 34 yards on 11 attempts. In his four-year career, Penny has never started an NFL game, and he has played in 28 out of a possible 49 regular season games.

In his entire career, he has only rushed for 831 yards and scored five touchdowns — a massive disappointment for a first-round pick. His first-round status is realistically the only reason Seattle has kept him: that and the fact that he’s just one of a four-man RB group that’s largely headed by Chris Carson.

Fantasy site DraftSharks labels Penny a “medium risk” injury-wise, predicting that he has a 65 percent chance of injury in 2021. In light of his recent calf injury woes, this prediction now seems modest at best. It now seems improbable to imagine a 2021 with a perfectly-healthy Penny that the Seahawks could rally behind come game-time.

While the Seahawks signed Carson to a confident deal this offseason, the team declined a fifth-year option on Penny. Because of his reputation, it’s uncertain whether Rashad Penny’s NFL career will ever extend much further beyond the injury report, but he could potentially return later this season and flash the potential once seen at San Diego State.